Slayers TIME
by Mox Jet
Summary: New Update: Chapter 6- in which a certain Chimera Man makes his appearence and Zel Fan Girls everywhere may rejoice.
1. Prologue

Slayers _TIME_

Prologue- In Ages Past 

.

In the beginning, there was Chaos, and from this Chaos rose a being. She was little more than Chaos herself given shape, but it was this being who gave the endless possibilities of the stuff form, molding it to her will. She would eventually be called God or Lord, referred to as the Dark Lord above all Dark Lords, the Lord of Nightmares.

While mortal man can never attempt to understand the emotions of such a being, it might be said that she eventually became lonely in her omnipotence and willed to be surrounded by others somewhat like her. As Chaos bended completely to her will, such was commanded and such was done. The Lord became surrounded by others like her and she was content. None were as powerful, but in such a realm, power didn't matter. God played with her angels and for a time all was good.

After many eons of content, though, there were some who decided that power did matter. It was these angels that became jealous of the power that God possessed. They wanted it for themselves and so they formed up against her, beginning a war that can not be describe by any means in the physical universe. It was a battle between beings of such incredible energy and power that the entire fabric of the reality was shaken by its clashing. Existence bellowed inward and outward with the conflict, sometimes threatening to collapse completely. In the end, though, God and the ones who stayed loyal to her were victorious and those who had risen up against her needed to be punished. She decided that if they wanted to fight, they would be allowed to fight for the rest of eternity.

God took those who had rebelled and split them each into two parts: their good and their evil. Since the beings were of Chaos, they all had the potential for both, and in this manner, the good and the evil sides of the fallen angels would be forced to battle each other for the rest of time in an endless struggle: a penalty for their desire for power. God would create a universe separate from her own for them to wage their war in. She decided that the new divided beings were no longer to be called angels. Instead, they were given the names Mazoku and Dragons.

Yet, the four power powerful usurpers -those of the angels created most like God herself- were deemed too strong to be kept together even in their divided forms of good and evil. God decided that she should actually create a separate universe for each of them. On these worlds, the opposing sides of the great fallen angels would be forced to lead their armies against each other. The great split entities were given individual names and divided into pairs. These pairs were Shabranigdo and Ceipheed, Dark Star and Volpheed, Chaotic Blue and Myspheed, and Death Fog and Rypheed. The pairs were cast into the four universes with their Mazoku and Dragon followers and God let them be free to battle each other to their hearts content. God watched her creations and for a time all was good.

While it is unknown to what extent the battles were fought in all the worlds, our story continues in the universe in which the battle between Shabranigdo and Ceipheed raged. Here, their war went on for thousands of years, and somehow, life and civilization managed to spring up around them. Amidst the war, the Lord God gave birth to a new species which was given the name Human. These humans were physically and magically weak compared to the Mazoku and the Dragons, but because they had the capacity for both good and evil, they were not forced to take sides. Instead, they hid from the war that went on around them as the Mazoku and Dragons killed each other relentlessly. 

Sometimes humans did take sides, and they were taught by one of the two greater races how to use magic in order to help beat the other. Many humans proved to be skilled with magic, some capable of even felling mid-level creatures of the Mazoku and Dragons themselves. Soon, though, the war came to a head and the side of the Dragons made its final play.

Five thousand years ago, Ceipheed summoned up every last ounce of his strength in order to split Shabranigdo into seven pieces, locking them away and spreading them across the earth. His own existence passing into oblivion as he did this, he left behind four pieces of himself to guard over his Dragons and the rest of the world. The pieces would be called the Fire Dragon King, the Water Dragon King, the Earth Dragon King and the Sky Dragon King. These pieces would be continually at ends with the pieces of Shabranigdo for this battle could never really be ended: such was the will of the Lord of Nightmares.

War subsided for awhile. Both sides needed time to recuperate and refill their ranks. Civilization began to grow and humanity was ushered into a time of a Golden Age. For a time, all was good. Then, one thousand years ago, the Mazoku made their play. Beginning their attempt to defeat the Dragons once and for all, Hellmaster Fibrizo, one of Shabranigo's five generals, declared war on the Water Dragon King. Around this time, one of the pieces of Shabranigdo was reborn through one of the human race and the battle over the north lands began. 

The Dark Lord was still outnumbered in a sense, as he retained only one seventh of his original power, whereas the Water Dragon King retained one forth of his own. In order to offset this, Shabranigo sent four of his generals, Hellmaster Fibrizo, Deep Sea Dolphin, Greater Beast Zellas-Metallium, and Dynast Grauscherra to the north, east, south, and west points of the Kataart Mountains: the area where the Water Dragon King resided. When in place, they created a "God Sealing Field" and negated a great deal of the Water Dragon King's power.

Sealed and helpless, the Water Dragon King was defeated, and, in all rights, the world should have been ushered into an age of unbalance with the Mazoku leading the way. Somehow, however, Shabranigdo's was defeated and the Mazoku were driven back into the darkness. With the Water Dragon King also defeated, the war was again really nothing more than a tie that had cost hundreds of thousands of lives, both of those participating in the war and those that stayed neutral. The world had been scorched with the flames of battle and populations of humans had been decimated. After ages of magical prominence, the populations of elves withdrew into hiding. In many parts of the world, knowledge of magic was completely lost and magical artifacts were no longer created. On both sides, the Mazoku and the Dragons withdrew again to begin to rebuild their forces.

Through it all, though, humanity survived and began to rebuild their civilization. While a great deal of magical knowledge was lost with the wizards that died in the war, there were those within the God Sealing Field who worked hard to regain that knowledge. Cities grew into Kingdoms. Royal Dynasties began, rose, and fell. People uncovered evidence of the old civilizations and the ancient magic artifacts. Many important people came and went, doing many things to affect the world. Some saved monarchies. Others caused great evil. Of all these people, the most important of all was born about seventeen years ago in the Kingdom of Zefielia. This person was a girl, and her name was Lina Inverse.  



	2. Chapter 1

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 1- A Calm Before the Storm 

.

Lina's head buzzed with confusion as she gazed about, caught in a world that was not familiar to her. The entire plain seemed to be covered in a grey mist, the sky above dark with storm clouds. It was as if someone had constructed this place for the distinct purpose of delivering a feeling of foreboding. 

"Where am I?" she asked, he voice reverberating in the air, but not yielding an answer.

A bolt of lightning streaked from the sky, down to the mist concealed earth, illuminating the silhouettes of two figures in the distance. They were both large, but try as she may, the young sorceress could not make out any distinguishing features. Their silhouettes faded away as the light disappeared, occasional redefined by further strokes of lightning. She watched closely as she saw the figures begin to move. Moments later, they clashed, beginning to battle each other. 

The fight scene defied all common sense as Lina's view of it began to pan around in a circle, conveniently ignoring the fact that her feet had not moved. Images became cleaner as the view changed, and she could soon make out some of the powers exuding from the forms. One glowed with an aura of white magic, the other glowed with an aura of black magic. A Dragon and a Mazoku, she concluded.  
  
The mist around the two forms separated as they fought, eventually giving way to three human sized figures between them. One glowed with the white of the Dragon, one with the Black of the Mazoku, yet there was a third, that seemed to glow with an aura not recognizable to Lina. It seemed smaller than the other two, weaker in nature, yet

Her thought was disrupted as the Dragon and Mazoku attacked simultaneously, the meeting of the two antithetical energies creating a chain reaction that rippled outward, reaching towards Lina. Another moment later, it consumed her in a violent wave. It only then occurred to her that since this was naturally a dream -Lina Inverse would never be so quickly killed in real life-- the next thing she would feel would be what everyone feels when they die in their dreams: a quick return to consciousness. 

.

Lina awoke with a jerk, sitting up in her bed, beads of sweat forming around her temples. She breathed in, just to make sure she was still capable of it, then looked around and reminded herself where she was. 

"A dream?" she asked herself, shaking almost as if she was started by her own voice. She wrote it off. 

Swinging the covers off of her, she climbed out of bed and stretched her arms towards the ceiling. Naturally, she was far too short to even come close to touching, but it felt good none the less. Grabbing a brush off of the end table, she began to comb the knots out of her long red hair, wandering over to the window and reveling as a mid-day spring sun warmed her face. Smiling, something inside told her it was going to be a good day.

Lina Inverse. Bandit Killer. Dragon Spooker. Enemy of all that live. Errwell, scratch that last part: she might hurt you she heard you saying it. A wanderer. A free spirit. A business woman. A sociopath. All these are things that you might hear someone refer to her as. 

In reality, what (or rather who) Lina Inverse is can't really be summed up in a single sentence as there's really a lot more to her than that. Lina is a slightly hyper-active sorceress with a bit of a temper problem that has an amazing tendency at getting caught in potentially world ending situations when all she really wants to do is stomp some bad guys, get rich quick, and eat good food.

Wellokay, so maybe you can sum her up in a single sentence, but never mind that. The important part is that Lina is a person after whom adventure tends to follow.

On the streets below her Inn, townsfolk were already out and about in their hustle and bustle of daily business. Lina may have just woken up, but she would be the first to point out that her hectic schedule of stomping bandits and sometimes saving the world required sleeping to noon in order to properly recover her strength. True enough, Seyruun was already quite full of activity. 

As she finished combing out her hair, she placed the brush back where she found it, and made her way to the full length mirror across from the bed. She went through what was becoming a daily practice of examining herself wishfully for any overnight growth in "key" regions, then slipped out of her pajamas and put on her standard traveling attire. Sure, purple and yellow may not have been all the fashion in Seyruun this year, but anyone informing our slightly out-of-style heroine of this would likely find themselves on the receiving end of a fireball. As was typical practice, one did not normally critique the wardrobe of those who seemed like magic users. And, if there was anything Lina seemed like in her somewhat ridiculous purple robe and pants, it was probably someone who could use magic.

Finishing dressing, Lina threw her cape over her shoulders and made her way out of the room. There, she was not too surprised to find her tall blonde traveling companion, the rather anti-intellectual Gourry Gabriev, exiting his own room. 

"Morning, Gourry," she said cheerfully. 

"Morning, Lina," the tall man (nearly two heads taller than her) responded. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Not too bad," Lina said, walking up to him. "I had some weird dreams, but I'll tell you about them over breakfast," she said. "Because I'm starving!" 

"You mean lunch, don't you?" Gourry asked.

"Lunch, breakfast, whatever," Lina said as they walked down the stairs to the main room that sported many tables and the restaurant that would be feeding the duo. "As long as it involves mass quantities of food finding its way into my mouth, it doesn't matter!" 

Many people were already busy enjoying lunch as Gourry and Lina took seats at a table in the corner. A waiter quickly addressed them, a bit taken aback by their order of "everything on the left side of the menu." He jotted the order down and rushed back into the kitchen, hoping that such a huge order would yield a similarly huge tip. 

"You seem happy today, Lina," Gourry said, noting the girl's sunny mood. "Did your breasts grow or something last night?" he asked. The poor fool was quickly met with a fist in the face that knocked him out of his chair. Lina brushed her hands off and leaned back as Gourry climbed back into his seat.

"No, you simp, that's not it!" she shot, a smile quickly returning to her face. "It's justwell, I'm not even quite sure. You never just get the feeling sometime when you wake up that it's going to be a good day?" she asked. 

"Hmm.I'm not sure I'd recognize it if I felt it," Gourry admitted. "But I suppose I understand what you're saying. Is there some kind of neat quest we're going to go on, risking certain death, only to manage to pull out alive at the last possible moment with some life risking trickerywell, something like that?"

"Nope," Lina said. "Actually, my plan for the day was to enter the tournament, which shouldn't be to life threatening at all."

"Umm.tournament?" Gourry asked, a stupefied look coming across his face. "What tournament?"

"You mean you don't remember?!" Lina asked. "Gourry, it's the reason we're in Seyruun, for Pete's sake!" Gourry paused a moment, considering the possibility that he once knew anything about whatever Lina was talking about. After a few moments of careful deliberation, he came to a decisive conclusion.

"Nope!" he exclaimed. Lina shook her head.

"Okay, then listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna explain this once more," she said, leaning over the table and clasping her hands. "The tournament I'm talking about is the Seyruun Magic Cup. It's probably the biggest sorcerer's tournament on the Mage-Battle-Circuit, and every year around this time, they hold it in Seyruun. Basically, all the best sorcerers in the kingdom gather here to hurl spells at each other in under organized competition, vying for the grand prize of a lot of gold and the title of World's Best! Now, did you follow all of that?"

"Hmm" Gourry pondered. "I suppose. So, basically you're gonna go cast a few Dragon Slaves and get a lot of money?"

"That's the plan, Gourry," Lina said, leaning back again and cracking her knuckles. "That's the plan."

The waiter came with their food and Lina started bouncing around like a young child on Christmas morning. 

"And now my plan is to eat all this food and fill my stomach!" she exclaimed, silverware in hand. Diving in, the food quickly found it had met its match in Lina Inverse as it was devoured in chunks that no normal human would be able to muster. The waiter watched in horror as the two travelers went through their order in less than ten minutes. Leaning back into her chair and patting her tummy in joy, she released a delighted burp.

"Not bad food," she admitted. "Seyruun cuisine never ceases to surprise me." She looked across the table at her traveling companion. "I suppose you can peruse the marketplace while I go about on some errands. You think if I give you some of the money we got from wiping out those bandits the other day you can manage not to spend it all in one place?" Gourry thought about it for a moment.

"Well, why don't you try me?" he asked, holding out his hand in a request for money. See, Lina always handled the finances in their journeys. Back when they were first working together, she let him keep his own end of their hauls, but it was always quickly wasted on silly things like armor polish, sword wax and underwear with pictures of pigs on them. Lina, always the one wearing the pants in the relationship, eventually revoked his privileges and took the 'burden' upon herself. 

"Hmmokay, Gourry," Lina said, smiling faintly. "Let's see how you do on your own. I'm gonna go off, sign up for this tournament and do some shopping. I'm gonna give you five gold pieces that you can spend as you like." She held up the five fingers of her right hand as if to exaggerate her point. "And we'll see how you do." She reached into her cape and pulled out five gold coins and handed them to the blond haired man. Standing up, she spoke.

"Be a good boy with that money, now," she said. "And I'll meet you back at the inn around say, five o'clock?"

"Yes, teacher," Gourry said, bowing his head. 

"Good, then," Lina said, spinning and wandering out of the building in search of something to buy with her end of the haul: the remaining three hundred and twenty five gold pieces. She thought she split them up pretty fairly, considering factors such as Gourry's contribution to the raid, his relatively intelligent behavior the last few evenings, and the fact that she saw a nice new belt on their way in that she just had to have. 

She wandered out into the street and looked around. Signups for the tournament were being done in the castle courtyard, so she figured she'd head that way first off. As she made her way through the crowded Seyruun Market, vendors shouted offers at her and shoved things in her face, but Lina Inverse was no impulse buyer. There was nothing someone could throw in front of her and just expect her to-

"One hundred percent pure jewels from the Ruins of Elmgosh! Get them right here while they're hot!" a seller hawked. The narrator then forgot everything about Lina he was just saying.

"Jewels from the ruins!?" Lina shouted, her eyes lighting up as she pranced over to the vendor that made the offer. "Oh wow, those things are impossible to find!"

"Hi there, young lady," the vendor, and elderly man with a gray beard and a brown cloak said. "Does such an offer interest you?"

"Oh yeah!" Lina said, her mind already working over how much she could sell them for before he told her they would cost. "Let me see 'em!"

"Why of course," the vendor said, reaching under the table of his booth and pulling out a handful of sparkling red gems. Lina quickly grabbed them and began to examine their quality.

"Hmm." she mused as the looked them over. Always the well equipped appraiser, she whipped out a small magnifying scope and held it up to her right eye. She twisted them around in her hand, looking for fault. In the center of each of the gems, there was a tracing of some sort of figure that looked real but

"These are fakes," she said simply, tossing them back on to the table and putting away her scope. The inlay on any gems from those ruins would be that of a jellyfish. These gems are inlaid with the image of a squid. Shame on you for trying to trick an innocent girl like me!" Her temper flared for a moment.

"But I, uh-" 

"No buts, Mister," Lina said, waving him off and taking a breath. "You should learn to conduct business honestly and be lucky I don't beat the crap out of your for trying to put one past me. You're just lucky I'm in a good mood today." The vendor tried to speak again, but Lina shook her head and smirked, waving his fingers. "The nerve you've got, thinking you could trick the great sorcery genius Lina Inverse."

"Li-Li-Lina Inverse?" the vendor asked. 

"That's me," Lina said proudly and sticking her chest out (what little of it that there was). 

"Wow!" the vendor said. "I've got a celebrity here! I know this may sound kind of silly, but, can I have your autograph? I'm a big fan of your work." Lina beamed.

"Ah, I always knew I was famous!" Lina said, pulling a quill pen out of seemingly nowhere. "Now who do want it made out t-" 

She was cut off by a crash accompanied with a billowing cloud of smoke from down the street. Her attention was quickly drawn to the scene, darting away from the old vendor before signing anything. A crowd had formed in a circle around two guys that had detained a frail looking figure in a black cloak. 

"The end is nigh!" the figure exclaimed. "The three are almost aligned. All should fear!" Lina sighed. Just a classical flagellant proclaiming the End of the World. And here she almost thought something interesting was happening.

"Say, what happened here," she asked on of the onlookers, a tall man with a red bandana tied around his head.

"Some crazy guy started ranted about the Coming of the Insurrection or some junk in that restaurant over there. The owner found some guys to get rid of him, but they've been having a hard time detaining him."

"I see" Lina mused. As she said this, the two men holding the squirming zealot made their way through the circle and passed by Lina. The zealot kept going on with his screaming and managed to catch Lina's eye. The two locked gazes and the man in black became silent, his stare never leaving her. He stopped struggling and the men moved away from the crowd with newfound ease. An eerie feeling crept over the young sorceress as the men rounded the corner with the man, probably taking him off to the local jail. 

"You know that guy?" the man with the bandana asked.

"No," Lina said. "I've never seen him before in my life. That was weird." Lina shook it off. "Well, no sense worrying about it. Time to go to the castle and register for that tournament."

"You're gonna enter the Tournament, little girl?" the man asked.

"Yup!" Lina said. "And I'm gonna win it, too."

"No way!" the man said back. "You'll never beat the defending champion. He's been number one on the circuit for the last six months!"

"Number one, huh?" Lina asked, cracking her knuckles. "What's this hot shot's name?"

"Well, that's the weird part," the man said. "No one really knows. He just goes by his 'stage name,' for lack of a better word. They call him the Dragon Slaying Slacker." Lina's eyes drooped.

"That'spretty lame," she said.

"Yeah, well, I guess you can't always be successful in everything. Good luck in the tournament, little girl. You'll need it!" The bandana man walked off. Inwardly, Lina always hated being called a little girl, but again, she was in a good mood today, so she was not about to let something so trivial as that bother her. Shrugging, she wandered off in the direction of the castle, now even more eager to register for the competition.

She passed by the standard fare of any main street in a major city. People continued to hawk items at her, though she managed to refrain from any dealings. Pots of water were also occasionally dumped from second story apartments; Lina also refrained from being hit by them. As she came to the castle, the large white towers seemed to reach the Clouds, the Seyruun palace being one of the larger known structures in the world. She passed over the drawbridge and into the outer bailey, quickly spotting a large tent with streamers and balloons marking the registration area. She wandered over into the tent and up to a long table with piles of paper set upon it.

"What do I have to fill out to sign up for the tournament?" Lina asked of the people behind the table.

"Just these few forms here," one of the representatives said, handing her the proper papers. 

"And what do they say?" Lina asked.

"Oh, just your usual waiver forms, really," the representative said. "Simply that the Mage Battle Circuit (MBC) is not responsible for any injuries or death that you may receive during the tournament and you waive all personal rights to combat this in any way shape or form following the completion of the tournament, assuming, or course, that you survive."

"I thought all of this magical battle was regulated so that people didn't get hurt."

"Accidents happen, deary," the representative said dryly. "You still up for it?"

"Of course!" Lina said, quickly grasping for the forms and scrawling her signature anywhere that looked appropriate. "Lina Inverse never backs down from a challenge."

"Lina Inverse, huh?" the rep said. 

"Yup," Lina said proudly. "I take it you've heard of me?" The representative gave her a puzzled look for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not in the slightest," he admitted.

Lina fell down.

"But I hope you're good if you want to defeat the defending champ," the rep said. Lina climbed back to her feet. 

"So I hear," she said. "But I think I've got that covered. Don't you worry about little 'ole me, pops." 

"Your first fight is tomorrow at 10:00 AM," the representative told her after he checked her in. "Be there half an hour before fight time."

"Aw man!" Lina said, shaking her head as she turned to leave. "I guess that means I have to wake up early tomorrow" She wandered out of the tent and back to the bazaar, hoping first to find Gourry and hoping second that he hadn't bought something silly like armor polish again.

.

"Its armor polish!" Gourry said proudly, holding up a silver can that had the words 'Black Sable' printed across the top. They were sitting at the restaurant in their inn as the sun was midway through its daily routine of setting. Lina paused from inhaling the leg of meat in her hands to scold her companion.

"I swear, Gourry, what on earth do you even need that for? Do you think your enemies are going to quiver in fear at the sight of their own reflection in your breastplate or something?"

"Of course not, Lina," he said. "But grandma always told me that when representing my family and my name on the battle field, it's always good to look your best!" He beamed with pride for a moment. Lina sunk her forehead into the palm of her free hand.

"Oh, Gourry," she mumbled. "Something tells me that your enemies aren't going to write up a bad TPS report or anything like that. I thought I told you to buy something practical."

"This is practical, Lina," Gourry defended, not seeing his companion's line of thought. "It was practical and economical -so much so that they gave me a bonus gift for just two more gold coins!"

"And what was that?" Lina asked, some hope returning to her.

"Sword wax!" he shouted in simplistic joy. Lina's heart sank. 

At least I only gave him five gold pieces to blow, she thought to herself. Then, aloud, "Well, whatever makes you happy, I guess, Gourry. Still, I wish you would have considered the fact that most of the time, your sword doesn't even have a blade to wax" Gourry put his hand behind his head and laughed.

"Oh wow!" he exclaimed. "I never even thought of that!" Lina shook her head, deciding very quickly to change the subject before jellyfish brains got on too much of a roll, or rather, a downward spiral.

"My first fight it tomorrow morning at 10:00," she said. "So I have to get to bed early if I'm going to get my beauty rest. Is there anything you wanted to do in town tonight?"

"Not particularly," Gourry admitted as Lina went back to devouring her diner. "I guess I'll just turn in early as well. Not like we need to stay up and form battle plans or anything like that, right?" he asked.

"Right, Gourry," she said between bites. "This is like a nice, restful, vacation."

"You blow things up even on vacation?" he asked. Her eyes lowered.

"It calms me down," she said flatly, slightly insulted. She went back to eating and after few more bites (if you could call them that) and she was done. Eating nothing short of the bone itself, she gulped down whatever was left in her mug and then slammed it on the table.

"So I think I'll go to my room then," she said. "Review some spells and the rules of the tournament and whatnot."

"Hmm.okay," Gourry said. "Sounds fine to me. I guess I'll justfigure out something."

"Just be a good boy and don't make too much noise while you're at it, kay?" she asked, tossing down a few gold coins to cover the meal and walking up the stairs to her room. Gourry sat for a moment to finish eating his own food, took a few large gulps of ale, then sat and leaned back in his chair, letting out a joyous belch. He patted his stomach. Then, perking up, he wondered aloud.

"Say, Amelia lives in Seyruun!" he exclaimed in revelation. "I wonder what she's doing." He rose up out of his seat. "I should probably go say hello, and since Lina said she didn't want to be bothered, she probably doesn't want to come. Suppose that means it just me and my armor polish on this one," he said, grabbing his sword from its resting place against the wall and trotting out of the inn. Thirty seconds later, he came back in to grab the armor polish (which he had left on the table), then ran back out of the inn. Unbeknownst to Lina and Gourry, over in the other corner -obscured in shadow for obvious dramatic effect- two figures had been watching them. 

"Are you sure that's her?" the taller one asked. "She looks almost exactly the same as she did three years ago. That can't be possible."

"Oh, I'm sure of it," the other one said, taking a long draw from the pipe he held in his hand. "You don't forget that kind of aura."

"So when do we go say hello?" the taller one asked.

"The timing's gotta be right," his companion said. "So probably tomorrow." He grinned.

"What's so right about tomorrow?"

"To be honest? I have no idea. It just seemed the right time."

"You're hopeless."

"Maybe. But then again, maybe that's why I'm here."  



	3. Chapter 2

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 2- The First Drops of Rain 

. 

Though her first match was at 10:00, by noon, Lina had already made it through the first two rounds of the tournament. The way in which the competition was held was positively ingenious. Each fighter wore a magical ward that provided them with a powerful protection barrier about three inches from their skin. This protection barrier was constantly reinforced by a cadre of white mages from the sidelines. When these mages sensed a collision with their barrier, they gave a signal, indicating a point for the opposing fighter. In this way, you could still erect protection barriers of your own, and if they stopped the attack then no points were scored, but if the attack gets through, the second field will still protect you. Death, it would seem, could only come if a spell was ridiculously overpowered, or someone reinforcing the barrier decided on losing their focus. 

And speaking of ridiculously overpowered, Lina was about to add win number three to the day.

The stadium was a giant structure, easily capable of holding some fifty thousand screaming Seyruuninan fans. It was a beautiful white building, the outer walls sculpted out of granite and the hallways floored with marble. Giant arches outlined each entrance and at the center was a circular battle arena about fifty yards across.

"Fireball!" came the cry as the young sorceress hurled a red ball of light at her opponent, a thin man in white and red robes. The man side stepped out of the way and the ball flew past. He drew his arms back and gathered an array of magical energy.

"Flare Arrow," he said, waving his hands in front of his chest as seven bolts of fire forms and streaked towards Lina. The sorceress quickly cast a few Freeze Arrows to negate them, then placed her mind back on the Fireball that her opponent had already forgotten. 

"Heads up!" she yelled over to him as she grabbed control of the Fireball again and brought it up and around, crashing into the back of his head with an explosion. The mage was thrown forward by the explosion, but the ward protected him from any magical injury. The white mages holding up his barrier signaled that he had been hit and the referee ran out onto the arena floor and raised Lina's hand in victory.

"Winner!" he screamed. Lina held her other hand up in a V sign, grinning like an idiot and waving to the screaming fans. She'd caused quite a stir this morning and was quickly rallying the crowds to her favor. As a newcomer to the circuit, she was paired with the third seed in the first round. When she dispatched him in under two minutes, she became a fan favorite almost instantaneously. After all, who could resist the great and beautiful sorcery genius, Lina Inverse?

Lina reveled in her victory for a few moments before marching out of the stadium, signing a few autographs on her way. She passed through the marble tunnels of the stadium, eventually finding her way to the locker room she was designated to. Sitting on the bench, she found that her cheering section (otherwise known as Gourry) was already there waiting for her. The room was small: enough to change clothes in before washing up. The floor was padded with some moisture absorbing substance. The walls were framed in wood and given the effect of a traditional bath house.

"Good fight, Lina!" he said, getting up and being quick to pat her on the back. She gave him a puzzled look.

"How did you get here so quick, Gourry?" she asked, taking off her cape and shoulder armor.

"I just came down after I saw you cast that Fireball. I guess I just sorta knew you'd win after that. My seat is pretty good. It's close to this room." 

"Oh," she said, starting to take off her robe before perking up and giving him a dirty look.

"What?" he asked.

"What do good boys do when girls have to change?" she asked him with parental undertones.

"Ummgo and wait patiently outside?" Gourry suggested.

"Right," Lina said with a wink. "Now be a good boy," she said, walking forward and pushing him out of the room. "And let Lina have a bath in peace." Gourry was quickly pushed out of the room and met with a slamming door. He let loose a sigh and walked down the hall to find the nearest concession stand. On the other side of the violently closed door, Lina slipped into a towel before walking into the next room where there was a complimentary bath provided. Tossing the towel casually to the side of the blue tiled bath, she stepped into the well heated water, sitting on a bench on the far side of the bath and sinking her body in up to her neck. She let out a contented sigh as the steam in the room enveloped her.

"Honestly," she said to herself, "I should have picked up on this mage battle thing a long time ago. This is the life! Public recognition, complimentary baths and foodI swear, if Zelgadis saw me now, he'd think I'd gone soft!" She sighed again. "In all honesty, though, maybe this is too good to be trueI guess I shouldn't get too used to such niceties."

Things have a funny way of happening for Lina Inverse, though, and right when things always seemed most comfortable, it was normally the time for one of two things to happen. Either some of her male traveling companions would walk in on her bathing, prompting a quick punishment, or someone was about to try to kill her.

In this situation, it happened to be the latter.

Lina perked up, her preternatural senses detecting something past the steam. She couldn't see out of the bath room, but something seemed to be moving

Thwang! A four pointed throwing star darted through the steam and past Lina's face as she managed to dodge. She quickly ducked underneath the water as three more stars zipped overhead. As the assault seemed to abate, Lina quickly leapt out of the bath, snatching her towel and running after the suspected villain, wrapping the towel around her body as best she could.

"Wait!" she screamed, sprinting into the dressing room then out into the hall. Looking down to her right, a black cloaked figure was bolting away, just making it past Gourry as Lina caught sight of her.

"Gourry, grab that guy!" she shouted, pointing at the offender with one hand while using the other to keep her towel from allowing anyone far more of a show than they deserved (Gourry being undeserver number one). 

Gourry's ear's perked up, and luckily his reflexes were faster than his wit. He moved quickly and with great skill, snapping forward and grabbing the black garbed figure as he passed. He spun, threw Lina's attacker against the wall, and in an instant, his sword was out and pressed against the man's throat. 

"Don't try to move," he commanded, sounding as menacing as he could. Lina quickly caught up, securing her towel and going through the motions of rolling up her sleeves, completely oblivious to the fact that she didn't currently have any.

"Good work, Gourry," she said. 

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Of course," she confirmed. "It's way too early in the story for the heroine to die. This lacky here is obviously completely unversed in the basic rules of dramatic story telling, otherwise he wouldn't have even bothered." She turned to her attacker. "And YOU!" she screamed. "You've got a LOT of nerve! I oughta kill you right now for coming so close to seeing me naked!" She grabbed his hood and pulled it back, revealing his face. She quickly staggered backwards.

"You?" she asked. "The guy from before?" The man remained silent.

"You know him?" Gourry asked. Lina shook her head.

"Not really. I saw him yesterday getting carted off for starting a ruckus." She leaned in, getting right in his face. "So what's your deal?" she asked. "You better have one hell of a good reason for trying to kill me."

"The End is Nigh," he said coldly and quietly, his lips trembling. "The Three are almost aligned." Lina promptly punched him in the stomach.

"That's what you said yesterday, you crazy dimwit!" she said at him. "Now answer me and sensibly. Why did you just try to kill me?!"

"The End is Nigh," repeated. "The Th-" he started, but Lina cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, the Three are almost aligned," she said. She looked to Gourry. "He gave me a weird look yesterday when he saw me," she said. "I didn't like it."

"Any chance he's just a wacko who had money on some of the guys you beat today?"

"Not with my luck, Gourry," Lina said, shaking her head. "You've been traveling with me long enough to know that. It's never that simple." Some voices came from down the hall. Lina and Gourry turned, seeing three members of Stadium Security running towards them (and we can be sure they were hot on the intruder's trail).

"There he is!" one of them shouted as they ran up to the duo. "He's the one who broke past us."

"And tried to kill me!" Lina added. "If you guys are security, I'd say your performance needs some review!"

"Do you want to ask him any more questions?" Gourry asked. Lina shook her head.

"Something tells me he's not gonna talk" Lina admitted. "Or at least, he won't say anything beyond that rhetoric that he's already been going off about."  
  
"Rederict?" Gourry asked, confused by the new word. "What's that?"

"Never mind, Gourry," Lina said, turning to the security guards. "How'd he get by you guys?" They let loose a rather unreassuring shrug. Lina shook her head. "Well, just take him away, then. I don't need him for anything."

"Right, Miss Inverse," one of them said, grabbing him and binding his hands behind his back. Gourry withdrew his sword and sheathed it. The man mumbled something about the world ending again as he was roughly carted off by the three security officers. Gourry looked down at Lina with his big blue puppy dog eyes.

"What does this mean?" Gourry asked her. Lina shook her head again, this time more slowly, letting out a sigh.

"It means my vacation might just be over," she said. "And it's looking to be adventure time again."

.

With the completion of her third fight, Lina was done for awhile and so she and Gourry retired to one of the complimentary lounges provided for the competitors. The room felt surprisingly regal. Luxurious couches were set up in circles around dark wooden coffee tables. The floor was well decorated in fancy rugs, the walls hung with similar tapestries. Possibly most important of all, though, was the free food left out for the fighters and their coaches. 

The buffet table was long, covered with fruits, breads, crackers, salads, various hors d'oeuvres and deserts. It was needless to say that Lina had parked herself next to the table and was picking freely from it, never swallowing all of what was in her mouth before inserting the next tasty treat.

"Oh, man, I love this stuff!" she exclaimed as she stuffed her face. Gourry was not feeling his usual hungry self, instead wondering when his diminutive partner would be done making a fool of herself. True enough, people were looking at her like she was some kind of animal. That was another interesting thing about Lina Inverse: the looks on the faces of her victims were often similar to the looks on the faces of those who watched her eat.

"Lina, I don't think that food's all there to provide you with dinner," he said, sitting down on one of the couches with a glass of milk. He had restrained himself from too much, having only consumed a giant green salad and a few dozen buffalo wings. 

"Nonsense," Lina argued with a full mouth. "It they didn't want me to eat it, they wouldn't have put it out."

"That's not what I mean" Gourry said with a sigh. Lina paused from eating for a moment to defend herself.

"Listen, Gourry," she said. "Someone just tried to kill me. The least I can do to feel better is have some food!"

"Yeah, but shouldn't you, you know, like, try to figure out why you were attacked so you'll know if it'll happen again?" he asked, genuinely concerned. Lina understood, put down the food she was holding, and walked over to the couch he was sitting on. She took a seat next to him, hoping that he'd be able to follow what she was going to say.

"Gourry, It's like this. Now maybe this is stretching it, but do you remember the conversation we had at dinner before we fought Shabranigdo?"

"Shabranigdo?" Gourry asked. "Who's that?" Lina promptly slapped him across the head and was quickly yelling in his ear.

"The Dark Lord of this world, Gourry!" she yelled. "You helped kill part of him, remember!? You, me, and Zelgadis fought him and I used the Giga Slave and your Sword of Light to kill him!" Gourry seemed to show signs of some sense being literally knocked into him.

"I seem to remember something like that," he conceded with his hand to his chin. "But that was an awful long while ago, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Gourry," Lina said, sitting back down. "It was about a year and a half ago, in fact. That doesn't matter, though. What matters at the moment is what we did before we fought him. Now, I guess I can't expect you to remember, but I made everyone go and have a big dinner and try not to worry about the impending encounter with one of the primary sources of evil in our world. The point behind all of that was because sometimes you just can't worry about stuff.

"A friend of mine once told me that the best way to get your mind off things is to go and do something you enjoy, and I've been living my life like that ever since. Do you understand? Now, I can't begin to comprehend why what happened earlier today happened, but that doesn't mean I should fall into gloomsville when there's still a lot to be happy with!"

"I think I understand," Gourry said. Lina smiled.

"As far as figuring out why I was attacked, that might not be answerable at the moment. Whatever it is, though, it'll unravel itself as time goes on. It always does. And until then, I'll be damned if I'm going to be deprived of enjoying free food. Like someone smart once said, we can burn that bridge when we come to it. I think it's a pretty good saying."

"Isn't the saying that we can cross that bridge when we come to it?" Gourry asked. Lina gave it some thought.

"I think he was trying to be funny," she said. "And at any rate, it's a good philosophy. And before you ask, yeah sure, I'm a little worried about this. I mean, that's an unsettling thing. For all practical purposes I could have been killed earlier. Still, you've been around me long enough to know that not only to I find myself in situations where I might be easily killed often, but I never let them get me down. Now go over there, eat some food and let's have some fun until my next fight."

Traveling with Lina for an extended period of time tends to have two effects on a person. First, your life expectancy drops about twenty years. Second, you learn to do whatever she says, whenever she says it, as it's usually less painful that way. Gourry, practically an ace in the game of not pissing off Lina, followed orders like a good sidekick. He went, he had some more food, and then Lina promptly dragged him out of the lounge by the arm and paraded him around town in search of fun.

Since the Tournament brought a lot of foreigners into the country, the marketplaces in Seyruun were always especially active around this time. With a little effort, all sorts of entertainment was available, and only about half of them involved getting plastered. Lina and Gourry found their way to a small theatre where a traveling troupe of actors was putting on a performance of a comedy called "Godo, King of Thieves." Admission was only three silvers a person, and so the duo sat down and enjoyed the show. The plot was about a cross dressing prince that was exiled from his kingdom by the Evil Chancellor, where he was adopted by a group of thieves. Their leader, Godo, also had a habit of cross dressing (and a fetish for dwarves, but that's besides the point) and quickly became friends with the exiled prince. After a few adventures and much hilarity, Godo and his men, the Red Drag-on Clan decided to help the beleaguered prince regain the right to his throne by defeating the Evil Chancellor in a Walk-Off and restoring peace to the land. Gourry missed a lot of the subtle humor, but sympathized with the Red Drag-ons that were forced to dress in women's clothing against their will.

Lina and Gourry dined outside of their inn, later that night, enjoying dinner at a seafood place in the theatre district. They went all out and ate every lobster in the place, making sure there was time to have first dessert and second dessert before making it back to the stadium for Lina's night match. Not fully satisfied with her second dessert, she made sure to finish her poor sap of an opponent off quick so she could make it for third dessert, some time around nine o'clock. By that time, the sky was dark save for the iridescent glow of the fireworks marking the end of the first day of the competition.

"You know, I went to visit Amelia last night while you went to bed early," Gourry said as they walked along one of the catwalks on the city walls, each eating away at triple scoop ice cream cones (fourth dessert). There was a wind that swept over them, but it was the first inkling of the warm breezes of summer, as opposed to the cutting, painful winds of winter. Behind the light of the fireworks, the stars were out in full force. 

"Oh yeah?" Lina asked. "How's Little Miss Justice doing?"

"She's upset you didn't come see her when you came into town," Gourry said, as if a little disappointed in his friend's lack of consideration for Amelia. 

"Really?" Lina asked. "I figured if she wasn't too busy with royal stuff, I'd see her around the city at some time or another."

"Apparently they've been a bit tied up in the palace, lately," Gourry said. "Busy with importantpalace stuff or something."  
  
"Probably just trying to get a sense of order back in that place," Lina said. "I mean, it wasn't even that long ago that the whole deal with Alfred went down."

"Say, wasn't part of the city destroyed by your Dragon Slave when you blew up that flying island?" Gourry asked. Lina quickly clamped her hands over his mouth, hoping no one had heard.

"Easy on that stuff, Gourry!" she scolded him. "The last thing I need is anything adding to my bad reputation." Gourry laughed.

"It does seem to follow you wherever you go, doesn't it?!" Gourry asked with a smile. Lina smiled too. Ah, simplicity. How she envied it, sometimes.

"I guess I just can't help it," she said. "It must be my magnetic personality." She forced a laugh. "But I guess I should go see her sometime tomorrow. I don't suppose you remembered what you guys talked about, do you?"

"Nothing important," Gourry said with a surprising lack of puzzlement. "I just told her about all the neat stuff we've been doing since that whole mess with Flibritzo, or whatever his name was."

"Fibrizo," Lina corrected.

"Yeah, that guy," Gourry agreed. "I told her what we've been doing since then and she told me about all the new responsibilities her dad was giving her because she needs to learn how to be a Queen or something."

"Yeah," Lina said. "I think I'll give her a visit tomorrow"

.

A few hours later, Lina lay awake her bed, unable to fall asleep. She had changed into her sleeping clothes, her body half-covered by the blankets, but all she could do was stare at the ceiling. She was caught in one of those horrible states where your body and mind are at ends with each other. As much as you feel the physical fatigue that your body wants to remedy, your head refuses to acknowledge what your body is feeling and instead decides to keep you awake indefinitely. She wanted to go to sleep. Really, she did. After all, sleep was one of those things that Lina loved about all else. There was too much to think about, though. Too much had happened today, and the repeating facts didn't feel like leaving her head without a fight. 

I need to find out who that man was, she thought. Its not like people aren't trying to kill me often, but typically I like to know why. She let out a muffled chuckle. Well, at least its not a Mazoku, she conceded. She had to deal with enough Mazoku over the last few months for a life time. In the grand scheme of things, dealing with one, or at most, a few, measly human psychos wouldn't be that big a deal at all. And honestly, it was probably just some psycho crusade against redheads, or something. Yeah. Maybe that was it. Lina decided it was best to not look too far into the events and just get some sleep. She had a big day tomorrow, and she'd have to be-

*Shhhssst*

Her internal monologue was abruptly cut off by a shuffling sound from outside in the hall. She focused intently on it. Several bodies were moving around and it seemed a bit too late for that many people to be up and about. Should she be worried? Her bed, on the wall perpendicular to the one with the door, gave her a decent chance to get out of the way if someone decided to burst in. Gourry was just next door, too, but he was a pretty sound sleeper.

The handle jingled. Lina sat up in bed, doing a quick scan of the available magical energy in the area, more out of habit than anything else. She had locked the door, so if someone wanted in, they'd have to put a little effort into it. Ever so slowly, she slipped out of the covers and began to move to the corner

With a bang, the door was kicked in and man rushed into the room with his sword drawn. His eyes darted around the room, searching for his prey. Always one to deal with things head on, though, Lina had already formed a fireball in her hand.

"Over here, pops!" Lina announced, ready to hurl the fireball at the intruder when an arrow flew through the open door and caught the man in the neck. The man dropped his sword and clutched his wound, but it was for naught. He stumbled back as blood flowed freely form his torn jugular, eventually crumbling to the floor dead. Lina looked up in confusion as another man rushed into the room, long blonde hair trailing behind him as he entered. Gourry? she thought, but she quickly realized that wasn't it as the man slid the bow he was carrying over his shoulder. 

"Catch you at a bad time?" the man said, not turning to face her, yet. Lina's eyes strained for a moment as she looked at his back, as if trying to discern something that was not clearly visible.

"I know that voice" she said. "But that's impossible" 

"It's been a long time," the man seemed to agree. "How you been?" he asked, finally turning to show his face. "Kid." he added as an afterthought. She got a look at him, and it definitely wasn't Gourry: not tall enough and more slimly built. He wore a deep red cloak that was drawn back over his left shoulder where the tails of the arrows protruded from his quiver. His clothes under the cloak were blue, black, and silver, styled in the manner that indicated traveling mage robes like Lina's. A pair of black belts hung from his waist and two intricate, bronze bracers guarded his forearms. Blond hair spilled generously over a black headband, culminating in a few upward pointing spikes. The long portion was tied loosely at the base of his neck with another black band. His eyes, a deep shade of blue, met with Lina's and she suddenly remembered.

"Greven?" she asked, unsure of herself, but knowing deep down that it had to be him. He was older now, as it had been a few years, but those eyes and the way he had said "kid" were unmistakable.

"Oh, good," he said with a friendly smile. "I was afraid you'd forgotten your friends that you left behind those years ago." Lina smiled widely as she trotted up to him, memories flowing back into her head, then nearly knocked him over as she hugged him. At this time, Gourry came into the room, sword drawn.

"I heard some noise," he said, keeping the sword in a position so as to easily strike the unknown man in the room. "Is everything okay?" Lina released the blonde man from the bear hug and addressed her companion.

"Yeah, yeah, just fine, Gourry," Lina said. "Put that thing away. He's a friend."

"A friend?" Gourry asked, tentatively sheathing his sword. Lina nodded, her gaze going back to Greven. 

"Yeah," she said, still a little confused by the oddness of the situation, but smiling, none the less. "Thiswell this is Greven. We kinda grew up together. He's from my hometown and he killed that guy there," she pointed to the dead body against the wall. "That's the one who broke into my room." Greven nodded, walking up to the limp form and pressing his fingers against the man's neck. Fingering the skin around for a moment, he pulled his arrow out and wiped it off on the dead man's cloak. 

"I saw him snooping around," Greven said. "And I knew you were staying here because I saw you last night in the restaurant." Lina was taken a bit aback.

"You knew I was here and you didn't say anything?!" she asked, slightly flaring up. Greven laughed.

"You're just as bad!" Gourry interjected, referring to their discussion about Amelia. Lina shot him a death glance

"Well, you know how I like to make an entrance," Greven said, giving the sorceress a wink. Lina quickly remembered that one aspect of her him that was in fact true: he was always the showman. She suddenly came to another conclusion.

"Wait, so if you're here, does that mean you're with-" she started to say, but he cut her off.

"Yup," Greven confirmed. "Kreutz is in our room. He's sleeping like a baby."

"Just like usual," Lina said with a wide grin. Then, laughing. "Well, my, my, the gang's all here. This is absolutely bizarre. Are you here for the tournament?"

"I've been on the circuit for a few months," he confirmed.

"Wait, who's Kreutz?" Gourry asked, always a few moments behind a conversation.

"He's my traveling buddy," Greven said. "He's also a very good friend of mine. And, if things haven't changed too much, of ours, in fact," he added, motioning to Lina. Greven took a moment to size up Gourry, then looked back at Lina with a smirk.

"So who's he?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"It's not what you think," Lina said, quickly waving off bullet that was sure to come. She didn't deal with that question. She didn't like dealing with that question. In fact, everything worked much easier when she didn't have to deal with that question. She knew it well, and was relieved Greven didn't nail her with it. The supposed question was, of course: so Lina, who's your boyfriend? Three years ago, he would have done it while putting her in a headlock and drilling his knuckles into her head. She normally then kicked him in the shins and put him in a figure-four leg lock. Perhaps he had learned his lesson.

"My name's Gourry," Gourry said. "And I'm her protector." Greven shot Lina another glance with the same devilish grin attached.

"Ooh, how cute," he prodded. Lina's face flushed red, but she knew the others wouldn't see in the poorly lit room. 

"Shut it, Greven," she said. "So where have you been? What have you been up to? Jeez, there's so much to ask."

"Well, what better time than now to catch up," Greven agreed. "This reunion requires some sort of celebration. Do you drink, Lina?"

"Not really," the sorceress answered.

"Ah, well there's your first problem," Greven said, as if suddenly the entire world made sense. "Come on you two. Gourry, we can handle the introductions at the bar. The first round's on me." Greven practically grabbed the two by the arms and dragged them out of the room. As he led them to some unknown place, the only thing Gourry could help but think was something to the tune of: Gods, they must all be like this over there. And, given what he now knew from the only two Zefelian's he had met, he wouldn't be far off the mark.  



	4. Chapter 3

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 3- A Growing Wind 

About an hour (and four rounds of ale) later, Lina was remembering why she didn't make a habit of drinking. Now, Gourry was a reasonably big guy and Greven must have spent a lot of time the last few years building up his tolerance, so neither of them showed any signs of effect. Lina, however, was realizing that being so small and not having great tolerance was not a great combination. It was a rather new feeling she was experiencing, this spinning wooziness. She could sort of see why Naga used to drink so much. In an odd sense, it was rather fun.

Greven had taken them a few blocks away from the inn to a bar called the Lonely Dragon. It wasn't terribly late for bar goers, the time being only a bit past one, so there were still a number of people in the building. It was not a very well lit room and the tobacco smoke filling the air irritated Lina's lungs. If it didn't take so much concentration, she would have cast Ray Wing to give them a fresh bubble of air, but she didn't think she could manage spells and conversations at the same time in her current state. The group was seated at a red cushioned booth against the left hand wall by the karaoke machine. 

She had listened to Greven's stories as intently as she could, her eyes slightly glazed over with the look of intoxication from the alcohol (as opposed to the company). She noted as her old friend gave the waitress a smile and a wink as she brought them another round of drinks (Lina was pretty sure he had acquired her name and address after the third round), though Lina waved off the mug that the tall brunette shoved under her nose. She wasn't smashed. Well, at least she could still speak straight, anyway. She just didn't feel like drinking anymore.

"I left town pretty soon after you did," he had said. "I guess I just got bored, and so me and Kreutz up and left. I think I was about fifteen at the time."

Kreutz was Greven's best friend. The two of them had been pretty much attached at the hip through childhood. Even when she had first met them somewhere around the time she turned seven, they were constantly together. In fact, she was partially surprised that he wasn't with him now. 

Their adventures reminded her of her travels with Naga. Greven didn't have any stories about killing high level Mazoku or summoning the Lord of Nightmares, but his adventures were filled with tales of raiding ancient tombs, capturing bad guys, torturing bandits and general good times. It almost made Lina wish she never left that simple "Kill bandits, capture treasure" schedule. Sure, she still found time for it, but the magnitude of her most recent adventures seemed to make such simplicities pale in comparison. By most accounts, Greven was leading the life that she had original intended to lead.

"-and that's where I got these bracers," Greven said, finishing off a story about how he infiltrated an all-female clan of ninjas and stole their most sacred of artifacts, the Archer's Gauntlets of Leech (+2 to skills, 5% life stolen per hit!). He showed them to Gourry and Lina. They looked as if there was a shield attached to the tops of the rounded bracers, creating an interesting layered effect. Runic etchings decorated the surface. 

"How did you infiltrate an all female clan of ninjas?" Lina asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering if he had taken to cross dressing without a female traveling companion to push it him too it.

"I did what was needed," he said with a smile. "I mean, hell, my hair's longer than most girls' anyway!"

"A good point," Gourry noted, his long hair often making Lina's attempts at dressing him up in drag easier. Stories of drag immediately brought Lina back to her search for the Claire Bible. 

"Oh, that reminds me of this one time we had to get into this all female kingdom called Famille," she said. "Amelia, Martina and I got to dress all the boys we were traveling with up like girls," she laughed. "Zelgadis didn't take to that as well as you did, did he, Gourry?"

"I'd say I just have more practice than him," Gourry said, giving Lina a penetrating glance. "And that's not even my own fault!"

"Who's Zelgadis?" Greven asked.

"A friend of ours," Lina said. "His body was turned into chimera by his former master, Rezo, the Red Priest, and he's been wandering around the world since then looking for a cure."

"He knew Rezo?" Greven asked, taking another swig of ale. "That's even more impressive lately, considering that Rezo's been so allusive these last few years. I even heard he was dead." Lina hiccupped.

"Umm" Lina said, twiddling her thumbs for a moment. "Well, that's 'cause he kind of is."

"Yeah?" Greven asked, leaning over the table. "How do you know?" Lina flushed.

"Well, I guess I'm kind of the one who killed him," she admitted. Greven looked at her seriously for a moment then broke out laughing.

"No way!" he exclaimed, still laughing. "You killed Rezo the Red Priest?!" Lina quickly shot across the table and clamped his mouth shut.

"Not intentionally!" she hissed. "Now keep it down before people come to lynch me or something! I didn't want to have to kill him, but he went and resurrected a part of Shabranigdo that was sleeping inside of him. He would have killed us and the rest of the world if we didn't do something!" Greven stopped laughing.

"That was you that killed the resurrected Dark Lord?" he asked seriously. Lina nodded. 

"Gourry here can vouch for me," she said, elbowing him in the gut. "Can't ya Gourry?" Gourry looked puzzled for a moment, putting his hand to his chin in thought. Lina shook her head disappointedly. "Actually, never mind. I need to remember that he's not a good source of recovering information." She looked back to Greven. "Just believe me on this one, kay?"

"That's pretty intense, Lina," Greven said, leaning back in the booth. He gave a sarcastic grin. "Then I suppose you're the one who killed Hellmaster Phibrizo and Chaos Dragon Gaav, too?" Lina smiled.

"Well, technically Phibrizo killed Gaav and the Lord of Nightmares killed Hellmaster, so" Greven's jaw dropped.

"The Lord of Nightmares?" he asked. "But the only way that could have happened was if" Greven raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, giving Lina a look of a concerned parent. "Then you used it, didn't you?" he asked, knowing full well she'd be aware of what he was talking about.

"Imight have, once or twice," she said, going back to twiddling her thumbs again. "But I swear I didn't have any choice in the matter!" Greven managed a chuckle.

"You're talking about the Giga Slave, right?" Gourry asked, making sure he was following the exchange. 

"Yeah, Gourry," Lina confirmed somberly. "We're talking about the Giga Slave."

"Lina Inverse, you're nuts," Greven announced. Then, with a great smile: "It's good to see you haven't changed at all." Lina also managed to laugh. "Killing Dark Lords and famous priests," Greven continued. "I see you've been a bit more busy than me over the last few years." That was another thing Greven was good at: making light of things.

"I used to do a lot more of the work you've been doing," she admitted. "I was hoping that'd be all I got involved in for a little while. Dealing with big nasty Mazoku takes a lot out of you."

"That's why you're here, I'm assuming," Greven said. Lina nodded.

"I figured the Tournament might be a good step towards my old habits again. I've got to admit, the life of Battle Circuit mage has been enjoyable thus far. It looks like the money's good, and the amenities are great!"

"Yeah, overall, I think it was a good career move on my part," Greven said. "Stomping on bandits does get old after awhile."

"So you beat up on bandits and steal their treasure, too?" Gourry asked him. Greven shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," he admitted. "It's actually fairly common for young adventurers from Zefielia to get their start like that. I mean, Lina's been at it since she was about fourteen. Kreutz and I have been doing it since we were fifteen."

"So, is everyone there as violent as Lina?" Gourry asked. Greven started to answer but was cut off as Gourry was punched in the face and knocked out of the booth. Lina in turned back to Greven and lowered her eyebrows.

"Umm" Greven started to say as Lina gave him a Death Stare. "I don't know, really," he said, coping out. Lina gave him a satisfied nod. "So you'restill in the tournament, right?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Lina answered. "Semifinals tomorrow afternoon. How about you?"

"Me? Eliminated? Puh-leeze."

"Then do you get to face the Dragon Slaying Slacker next round?" she asked, leaning over the table, now interested in acquiring some info.

"I'm not sure," Greven admitted. "They keep the draws secret. I'll only know when I get out there. Maybe you get to fight him."

"Maybe," Lina mused. "But have you ever fought him before? I mean, you've been on the circuit for a while, right?"

"I haven't been around that long," Greven said. "And even then, I still haven't fought against him. I hear he's pretty good, though. Better, they say, then the infamous bandit killer Lina Inverse, even."

"Well, the nerve of some people!" Lina exclaimed. "Who said that? I want names!" Greven laughed.

"Maybe that was me who said that one, actually," Greven said. An empty beer mug flew his way, the projectile springing from Lina's hands and giving him quite a shock. He yelped and rubbed his head where a bump was already beginning to grow.

"Lina, that was harsh," Gourry said, speaking up in poor Greven's defense. Unfortunately, Gourry had forgotten that he was the one over whom Lina had free beating privileges more than anyone else. He was quickly reminded of this fact by a very bony elbow striking him under the ribs. Biting his words, Gourry showed some uncommon intelligence in not reminding her how bony her elbow was, resolving that Greven was now a big enough man to fight his own battles. 

"Yeah," Greven agreed, still rubbing his head. "Harsh."

"Serves you right," Lina said, waving a finger.

"You beat on Gourry a lot, don't you?" Greven asked.

"Sometimes," she admitted. "But only when he deserves itor I'm mador he did something goodor, well, you get the idea."

"Not really," Greven admitted.

"Welcome to the club," Gourry said, rubbing his side. "I never get the idea."

"Well, here's an idea," Lina said. "It's getting late and we have matches tomorrow. Perhaps we should make for the inn?"

"No argument here," Gourry said. "This is way past my bed time."

"Whatever suits you guys," Greven said. "I'm all for hitting the sack." 

The trio left some money to cover their tab and headed out of the bar, the streets beginning to clear up at this point. Many of the lights had gone out and the stars were a bit clearer than they had been a few hours ago as Greven led the way over the cobblestone paths back to the inn. There too, all the patrons had gone to bed, peacefully sleeping upstairs. As they climbed the stairs and passed Gourry's room, the swordsman gave a tired wave before entering and closing the door. He sometimes had a habit of seeing Lina into her room before he went to bed himself, but seemed either too tired or too absent minded tonight to do that. Greven and Lina turned out to have rooms across the hall from each other, both opening their doors and beginning to move inwards before Greven spoke.

"Now, I gotta ask," he said, turning to her with a grin as she started to close her door.  
  
"Yeah, what's up?"

"You never got to tell me. Now that he's in bed, who's your boyfriend?" he asked, delivering the question he had waited so patiently to spring. Before he knew what had happened, though, he was met with a door slammed in his face by a rather tired and slightly drunk sorceress. With a shrug, he entered his own room and closed the door behind him, hoping he didn't wake up Kreutz.

.

Falling to sleep after having a few drinks is normally a very easy thing. In fact, if Lina ever needed a time in which sleep was the most desirable thing, now would probably be it. Forget about the fact that she had already lost precious hours off of her beauty sleep. Forget about the fact that she had nearly been killed twice today. Forget about the fact that one of the few men who she had ever called friend had just reappeared into her life. Forget about all of these things and you had a person who didn't need to try very hard to head to dreamland. 

With minutes, Lina was sleeping, again finding herself in a eerily familiar dream state. Once again, the perpetual mist that had surrounded her the night before was back, making seeing beyond a few feet difficult. In the distance, there was a resonance in the air that reminded her of the humming of a fireball right before it blows

Crash!  
  
She jumped to the left, just in time to avoid being caught up in the explosion. She recovered into a roll, sweeping her cape behind her and quickly glancing around in an attempt to locate her assailant.

"Do I have your attention now?" came a female voice from somewhere in the mist. She spun to its source as the mists parted to reveal the speaker.

"You know, breaking into my dreams isn't the beset way to get my attention!" Lina shouted at the intruder: a tall woman with mid length dark hair. Most of her clothing was concealed by a long black cloak, but Lina could make out the shape of a sword under the cloak.

"For sake of convenience, this will do," the woman said coolly. "And don't even bother trying to fight," she told Lina. "What you see before you is little more than an astral projection. You couldn't actually hurt it if you wanted to." Grimacing, Lina realized that whether or not she was just imagining this, she wouldn't be able to actually attack this woman. 

"So what do you want?" Lina asked, standing up cockily as well as her small form could manage. "And am I to believe that you're not just something I dreamed up?"

"I'm just here to give you a warning, Lina," the woman said. "Not to fight."

"Then what's with hurling the fireball at me?" she asked.

"Surly you don't think you can actually die in one of your own dreams, do you? The fireball was, as I said before, just to get your attention." Lina raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"All right, so let's assume for sake of argument that you are a real person who's managed to get into my dream. What are you here to warn me about then?"

"Only that when you awake, you will find that the Princess of this kingdom -one Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun- has been kidnapped. After you get over your initial shock, it would be in your best interest to join the effort to recover her." Lina gave the woman a quixotical look.

"Best interest how?" Lina asked, her hands on her hips. 

"Would you like the attacks against you to stop?" the woman asked with a thin smile. Lina narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I get it," she said smugly. "Blackmail. Fine then. First off, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. What makes you so sure that youwell, whatever you are, can capture the Princess and push me around because of it?"

"I'm just the messenger," she said, raising her hands in protest. Such an action threw back some of her cloak allowing Lina to make out the black plate mail she was wearing beneath. It was void of specific markings.

"Which leads me to second point," Lina said menacingly. "Which is that I'm quite the fan of shooting the messenger." She started gathering (or maybe just dreaming) some energy into her hand. "And since you're in my dream, whatever I say goes" 

"You've been warned," the woman said, beginning to turn away and walk back into the mist. After a few steps, she paused. "And by the way, my name is Rani. Remember it for when we meet in person some day, Lina Inverse." She then continued walking, but Lina was already hot on her trail. 

"Elmekia Lance!" Lina screamed, hurling a green spike of astral energy at the woman, but no sooner had she disappeared back into the mist than the Elmekia Lance had also disappeared, not seeming to have damaged anything. Lina slumped to the ground and shook her head.

"Dammit," she said. "Gods, what's wrong with me? Am I losing my mind?" Suddenly, she was presented with a very familiar feeling. A low rumbling emerged from the distance and energies begin to swell up around her. After a moment, she knew what it was; that battle between that Mazoku and the Dragon was going on again. Just like before, her dream camera began to pan around to show her the image.

"Oh, well no way I'm sticking around for this again!" she said. "And, since this is my dream, I official say it's over. You hear me? It's over. It's over!

.

"It's over!" she screamed, but now she was awake and back in her room. Her forehead gleaned with sweat as she looked around for any new intruders. To her surprise, she found that the sun was already shining through the curtains. Wiping off her face, she threw the covers off and climbed languidly out of bed.

Too weird, she thought to herself.

Running through her morning routine, a bit more quickly than usual today, she dressed herself and made her way downstairs. There, Gourry was already sitting at a table with Greven and a large man with short jet black hair. He wore a green cloak over a silver cuirass. 

"Morning, Lina," Gourry called in his usual cheeriness. Lina walked up to the table full of men.

"Kreutz!" she exclaimed, jaunting over to the table. The big man rose up and caught the girl as she barraged into him. 

"Lina, it's good to see you," he said in a deep voice that seemed to match his body. "How have you been? Please, have a seat. Would you like some tea? I was just about to pour the second round."

"Yeah, sounds great," Lina said, sitting at the remaining empty seat.

"So how'd you sleep?" Greven asked her, taking a sip from his cup as Kreutz began refill everyone's tea. 

"Oddly," she admitted. "Very oddly. I've been having these strange dreams, as of late and I really can't come up with a valid explanation for them" She paused and gave a glance around the table, shaking off a creepy feeling that had followed her to the table. "But anyways, Kreutz, how have you been? You didn't get to hang out with us last night and I wanna hear."

"Oh, I've been very well, thanks," Kreutz said. "I suppose Greven already told you all about our travels, lately."

"Yeah, he told us a bit," Lina said. "Sounds like you've been having some good adventures."

"We get around," he answered. "Tea?" he asked as he moved the pot over her cup. She nodded, also waving a waiter over to order food. With much enthusiasm, she ordered the breakfast special for eight (with a side of homefries) and turned her attention back to her companions.

"So did you ever finish your schooling?" she asked him.

"At the Healers Guild?" Kreutz asked. Lina nodded. The large man let out a smile. "Oh yeah. I'm an official Paladin of the Zefelian House," he said proudly.

"Paladin?" Gourry asked, lost as usual.

"It's like a holy knight," Lina explained. "It means that Kreutz is skilled in a lot of white magic as well as being skilled with weapons. He's kinda like Sylphiel, but still a little different. Do you follow?"

"I see..." Gourry said, taking a sip of his tea. "So, is that why this tea tastes so good?" he asked with a smile, pointing to the cup. Everyone immediately tumbled off of their chairs, spilling tea everywhere.

"Gourry, what does the tea have to do with anything?!" Lina asked, climbing her way back up to the table."

"Well, you said he was kind of like Sylphiel, and Sylphiel was always such a good cook, so I figured that"

"Jellyfish Brains!" she shouted, slamming him over the head, causing him to drop his tea as well.

"It's a hobby of mine," Kreutz said, casually going about refilling everyone's freshly emptied cups. "I suppose in a sense, knowing about healing herbs and tea leaves are sort of, vaguely, almost distantly related," he conceded, trying to give Gourry the benefit of the doubt. 

"You know, Lina," Greven said. "Kreutz and I were just talking about how you look exactly the same as you did three years ago." Lina grinned.

"Yeah, well I guess I'm just resistant to the toils of aging," she said, tossing her hair back and smiling. Thinking about the comment for a moment, though, she quickly realized the hidden implications. In an instant, the sorceress was out of her seat and on Greven's back, strangling him from behind.

"Wait! Are you saying I haven't grown at all in three years!?" she demanded. Greven, quickly losing air flow, started to choke out a defense.  
  
"Ah! I didn't mean anything by it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he declared. After a few more moments of pitiless strangling, she let the blonde man go, returning to her seat.

"Whatever," she said, realizing that if Greven's match time hadn't changed, he should be at the arena by now. "Say, why aren't you fighting yet, Grev?" she asked. "I thought you had a match this morning."

"Oh, wow, that's right," Kreutz said. "I guess you haven't heard!"

"Heard what?" Lina asked. Greven decided to fill her in.

"The Princess Amelia's been kidnapped," Greven said, somewhat dimly. "All the day's fights have been indefinitely postponed." Lina winced and her heart skipped a beat.

"Kidnapped?" she asked, needing reassurance.

"Yeah," Greven confirmed. 

"They want all the competitors to join in the search for her," Gourry said, filling in what he remembered from earlier.

"Greven and I are going to join the hunt," Kreutz said. Lina still looked vapid.

"Lina, what's wrong?" Gourry asked.

"It's just that" she started to say. She shook it off. "Well, nothing. It's not anything. Don't worry about it."

"Will you join the party to recover the princess?" Gourry asked.

"Amelia" Lina said. "I dunno, Gourry. I mean, I don't really want any trouble and even though Amelia is a friend I guess that"

"Prince Phillionel is offering a huge cash reward," Greven interjected with a grin. Lina's eyes immediately regained their life and her face lit up. 

"Well in that case, how can I abandon my dear friend and former traveling partner, Amelia!?" she questioned, leaping onto her chair and pointing to the sky for dramatic effect. "She's far too young to have to endure such terrible treatment! Nay, I say it would be a travesty for all living souls everywhere for us NOT to combat this terrible evil that has over flown our peaceful land!"

"Same 'ole Lina," Greven and Kreutz said in unison. 

"We'll help Greven and Kreutz rescue her, then?" Gourry said with a hopeful smile. Lina climbed down from her chair and took a seat again.

"So we're working with them now?" Lina asked, her mind considering the things that the woman named Rani had said in her dreams.

"It'll give us a chance to catch up," Kreutz said.

"I proposed it to Gourry here before you woke up," Greven said, still grinning. "It'll be just like old times, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose" she said a bit hesitantly, taking a sip of tea. "Well, so much for my vacation. I guess its adventure time again."

"Yeah, and it only took fifteen thousand words," Greven said.

"What?" Lina asked.

"Nothing," he responded, also sipping from his tea. "Don't worry about it."  
  
"Greven, you lost me," Lina admitted. Her old friend gave a shrug.

"Basically, it'll be good to be on the road with you, Lina."

"Well, naturally."

"So will we go to the meeting for all of those interested in the reward?" Kreutz asked.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going." Lina said. As she said this, the waiter reappeared from the kitchen with a platter full of goodies. Lina took her silverware into hand and started bouncing up and down. "Or at any rate, we'll go after I eat!"

.

Somewhere far enough away so that our generally aware band of heroes couldn't see, someone was watching their motions with the utmost interest. He may have been sitting in a tree or he may have just been hanging up in the rafters. Either way, he could always just teleport away if someone started to look towards him. Such was one of the abilities of a Mazoku.

So who was this mysterious Mazoku watching Lina and her cohorts? Ah, ah, ahnow that is a secret.  



	5. Chapter 4

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 4- Downpour 

A great stage was set up in the outer bailey of the castle for Prince Phil to address the assembly. While rescue team sounded like the right thing to call them they were more like bounty hunters. It is dubious how many standing there would be offering to help if no cash was involved- our lovely sorceress supreme as dubious figure number one.

It was a pretty well varied crew, indicative of the fact that a lot of bounty hunters _hadn't_ been participating in the games. The standard fare was all represented. There were the obligatory big, hairy men with large swords and ugly armor, sometimes accompanied by shadowy, robe-clad magicians with sour demeanors. There were the pretty-boy groups of self-proclaimed heroes sporting the latest trends in Atlas City armor. There were the hardened veterans that weren't too big but had those ugly scowls that said "I'll cut you down before you lift your weapon if you look at me the wrong way." Said veterans were covered with the kind of scars you'd expect them to be covered with: just enough to increase their fearsome appearance. Finally, there was Lina Inverse and her traveling sideshow of misfits; the ones that could probably beat the crap out of any of the others present (or we'd be following around the obligatory, generic goons around, instead).

The illustrious Prince Phil was stood on a makeshift wooden podium emblazoned with the Seyruun Crest. Looking to his side, Lina noted his brother Alfred and wondered how the kingdom had gone a whole four months without having another fight over the throne, the result being the death of one of them. Lina had to jump up and down to see over the other bodies, another reminder of her unfortunate lack of height. 

"Good citizens," Phil addressed the crowd. "I'm sure you're all aware by now that tragedy struck the kingdom last night when my daughter Amelia was kidnapped from her bedroom by heinous criminals. Seventeen guards were killed in the fighting in the name of justice as a small group of intruders subdued the princess, making off with her in what we think was a northward direction.

"As can be expected, this kind of action will _not_ be tolerated by the Kingdom of Seyruun. While we have not yet received any indication of a ransom, I, Crown Prince Philionel de Seyruun, am placing a reward of one million gold pieces for the safe return of the Princess."

Muttering ran through the crowd. One million gold. That was enough to keep anyone living comfortably for years. Even Lina would be able to eat well for a few months on that much.

"It is my assumption that such villains that, while so blatantly ignoring the principles of justice, are more than simple bandits," Phil continued. "So I would urge you all to be cautious in your search. The tournament will be indefinitely postponed until the return of the princess."

More mutterings. Would the tournament be cancelled completely if Amelia was never returned? More importantly to those present, however, was what kind of warriors were they dealing with to kill seventeen guards, escape with the princess, and not lose any of their own men?

Gourry looked down to Lina.

"This is serious isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah, Gourry. This is serious."

"Then when do you want to set out?" he asked her somberly.

"Soon," Lina said. "We want to get a jump on the rest of these clowns. Waiting till tomorrow morning would just be foolish."

"Agreed," Kreutz interjected, hand on the _large_ two handed war hammer that was hoisted effortlessly over his shoulder. "I would like attend to some purchases before we depart. There are certain herbs which I am in low supply of."

"And I need to buy some new arrows," Greven mentioned. "How long do you think you need, Kreutz?"

"About an hour?" he suggested.

"All right," Lina said, taking command. "On the bright side, it looks like we'll be leaving Seyruun this time without being chased out by the army! We'll meet at our inn in an hour, then we set off and win that rewa-...errescue Amelia!" she corrected herself. 

"Lina, don't tell me you're only doing this for the money," Gourry pleaded.   
  
"Oh, no, of course not!" she exclaimed, eyes shut and hands waving in protestation. "It just happens to be a nicebonus. Now, I'll take care of buying the rations. Gourry, you should probably come with me, because I don't know what I can feasible expect you to take responsibility for getting."

"Sounds about right to me," Gourry agreed.

"So an hour at the inn," Greven confirmed. Lina nodded. "All right. We'll see you fellows there." Swinging his golden bow back over his shoulder, Greven disappeared into the crowd. Kreutz followed him, though his height made it hard for him to disappear anywhere. Lina looked up at her tall blonde companion.

"I'd like to talk to Phil before we go," she said. Gourry gave her an agreeing nod as they pushed their way through the crowd up towards the dais where Phil was standing, causing a general ruckus. When Lina made it to the stage, the large pacifist was speaking with Alfred and some of his other advisors. Aghast with the possibility that she might be ignored, though, Lina announced her presence with cheer.

"Phil old buddy, old pal!" she said, arms in the air. "How ya doing?!" Phil looked over and a smile filed his face.

"Miss Lina! Mr. Gourry!" Phil said, welcoming the two with open arms. "How are you! How have you been! It seems like its been so long since you've been in Seyruun!"

"Oh, we've been fine," Lina said. "We were here for the tournament untilthis happened."

"It is truly a crime that one so young as herself should have to face such horrors," Phil said soberly. "If the bastards could have only taken me instead, then the injustice would not be so grand, but fate has seemed to deal our kingdom a different card."

"We'll get her back, Phil," Lina said. "Now that Lina Inverse is on the job, there's no need to worry!" 

"I'm happy to have good people like you two helping us," Phil said. "I myself will be joining the search in a day or so when I finish sorting out matters here. Even such a staunch pacifist as myself can't help but feel the fires of justice at my back in a situation such as this."

"Take care of yourself, Phil," Lina said, extending her hand. "And we'll see you soon with Amelia in our custody."

"She is truly blessed to have friends such as you," Phil said.

"Yeah," Gourry said sarcastically. "Some friend. She didn't even want to do it until she found out about the-" he was cut off by Lina's elbow smashing in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him.

"Until I found out about the terrible thing that happened here!" Lina said, blushing as she covered her tracks. She grabbed Gourry by the ear and began to pull him away. "Well, time's a-wastin' Phil, old boy! I'm off to save the princess!" She waved with her free hand as she dragged Gourry back into the crowd.

"Such an odd girl" Phil mused when Lina was out of ear shot. It was probably a good move on his part. In the midst of the crowd, Lina let go of Gourry and a smile came over her face.

"Okay, Gourry. Now that that's out of the way, it's fun time."

"Food shopping?" Gourry asked excitedly.

"You got it! Are you ready?"

"Oh yeah, Lina! Let's do it." They gave each other excited nods then pushed their way through the crowd and bolted back to the market. A tell-tale trail of smoke followed behind them as they went, presumably off to buy anything edible in sight. It might be a long journey, after all, Lina reasoned, and the last thing you wanted to have on a long journey was a food shortage.

The hour went by quickly, fighting against other parties for supplies, buying what they needed as fast as possible. Weapon and item stores (all marked conveniently with signs showing either a sword or a jar, respectively, no matter what town you went to) overflowed with wannabe heroes kitting themselves out for their impending quest. For Lina, though it was at times like these that being small and bony had its advantages. Able to sneak through crowds with ease, she had no problem picking out a few new things to bring along with her.

Food shopping, however, was the part of the preparation she enjoyed the most. It took some skill, as you had to know what would hold over however long you were traveling, but a ravenous appetite forced Lina to become good at this rather quickly. Almost needless to say, time went by even faster in the food purchasing process and soon enough, the hour was up and Lina had to settle for what she had managed to get a hold of in limited time. Gourry and her made their way to the meeting point, possibly already considering what they would eat first.

"This is what you bought?!" Greven said, amazed at ridiculous load of food that Gourry had strapped to his back. The foursome stood outside of the inn, having just checked out. Gourry stood next to Lina, hunched over by the enormous load of fruits, vegetables, dried meats and breads that they had just purchased.

"Yeah," Lina said. "It'll get us through till the next town, I think. I kinda ran out of time.."

"But Lina," Kreutz said. "We don't even know where we're going."

"Phil said they made out north," Lina said. "_That_ means we nail the nearest bandit gang on the way and pump them for information. Then we pit stop at the next town and reformulate our next plan of attackalong with getting a nice fluffy bed and warm bath andoh, I just can't wait!" Her eyes doubled in size and became four times as shiny (a common side effect of good thoughts of food and amenities on Lina) as she sighed.

"Lina, we haven't even left yet," Gourry reminded her, his voice strained. 

"Oh yeah," the redhead corrected herself, her eyes returning to normal as she slowed down her runaway train of thoughts. Greven and Kreutz face-faulted. 

"How do we know that's reliably information, though," Greven pointed out, climbing back to his feet.

"Greven, you've been in this game long enough to know that you've got to go with what you have, right?" Lina asked. Greven nodded in agreement. "Then let's stop wasting time! We're off on a new journey and we've gotta be ready to go wherever it takes us. That's rule number one of traveling with Lina Inverse, after all. Now, if you guys want to come along, you've gotta play by my rules, get it?"

"So I guess you're in charge like usual?" Greven asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm the heroine in the series, after all," Lina said with a wink. 

"I keep forgetting," Greven said sarcastically.

"Guys, we should get going," Kreutz reminded. "It's already well past noon." 

"Good point," Lina said. "Okay, everyone. Follow me!" Lina waved the group onward. And so, making their way towards the northern gates of the city, the four unlikely companions (as an unlikely fellowship is a literary necessity) headed off to begin their quest, find some bandits, get rich quick, inevitably stumble into deeper trouble and possibly rescue a princess along the way. 

.

Several hours of traveling from Seyruun greeted the party a mountain range that marked the border between Seyruun and Kalmaart, the Dukedom to the north. While still a few days journey away, the snow capped crests were beginning to show over the horizon, climbing majestically above a verdant forest. At about ten o'clock, the party decided to halt for the night.

The group made camp in what was surprisingly _not_ a forest clearing. Rather, knowing from years of experience that bandits roam forests even while heroes sleep, the group picked an area a few miles away from the forest full of impending ambushes (why heroes for ages before never picked up on this can be likened to why bad guys always seem to want to fight the heroes one-on-one, even when they hold a shear numerical advantage: it doesn't always work great for plot). Showing some common sense, _our_ heroes pitched tents a few yards off of the beaten dirt road, about an hours travel past the camp sites of most of the other "rescuers." It was late and already dark by the time they set their belongings down, but since they're the protagonists in the story, we can neglect that fact that they might have tired sooner.

Used to traveling in pairs, the group set up two tents: one for Greven and Kreutz, the other for Lina and Gourry. Some sparse foliage surrounded their site, providing enough firewood for the one night that they would be camping. Off to the right of their site, the ground sloped gradually down towards a river basin about half a mile away. The grass on the ground was just beginning to grow green again. Within a half hour of halting their travel, Lina had a fire burning between the two tents. She and Gourry were also quite pleased to find that Kreutz actually happened to be a skilled chef (unfortunately for his headache, though, Gourry once again pointed out the similarity between him and Sylphiel). He quickly set up the latest craze in camping equipment and beginning to cook the party dinner with some of meat that tended not to keep as long.

Sorcery is a pretty amazing thing when it comes to food and cooking. In addition to always having control over the heat of the flame you're using, it's also relatively easy to freeze things for later use. While it took a little control to cast a freeze arrow good for refrigeration (to prevent the medieval equivalent of freezer burn), Greven had iced over some ground beef before they had left. Defrosting it with a little fire magic, Kreutz was able to whip up some tasty hamburgers. What Greven didn't see coming, though, was that all the meat he refrigerated would be gone in ten minutes and Lina and Gourry would be asking for fourths.

Moving on to the immense satchel of food that the two over-eaters had brought, Kreutz went on to continue cooking, watching in awe/horror as Gourry and Lina consumed everything that came off the fire before he could cook up the next course. It wasn't long before they went through almost all of the meat and Greven pulled the plug on the feast, proclaiming that unless they wanted to take some time away from traveling to hunt, they'd have to stop eating all the supplies.

"You know, you're never serious on things that _really_ matter," Lina said with a pout, chewing on some of the dried meat Greven had given her.

"Just on the things that'll leave me hungry," Greven pointed out. "In which case, you can bet your ass I'll be serious."

"You two _did_ just eat about half of our supplies," Kreutz pointed out. "Well, between dinner and all the munching you did through the afternoon, anyway."

"A girl's gotta eat," Lina said with a smile. 

"Food is good!" Gourry pointed out enthusiastically. "And if I didn't eat a lot, too, Lina would just eat everything before me!" Kreutz mused over that for awhile.

"An interesting point," he said. "I wonder how Greven and I never acquired her appetite"

"I believe we were trying to stay thin, ironically enough," Greven said, drawing a brown glass pipe out of his pack and beginning to pack it. Lina shot a glance, though Greven ignored it, holding his hand over the bowl of the pipe and sparking the contents with a small flame from his palm.

"And when did you start smoking?" Lina asked him

"Probably when I started drinking, so like a year ago, I guess," Greven said, taking a draw. "It calms me down. Kinda like you and blowing stuff up," he said with a grin.

"Hmmokay," she said. "Valid point."

"We all have our flaws, Lina," Kreutz said, defending his friend. "And I don't think we need to harp on _yours_." 

"You're treading on thin ice, Kruetz," Lina said, tearing off another piece of meat. "Dangerous for a big guy like yourself, I'd say." The sorceress grinned. While she never liked being picked on, it was amusing to deal with people who could keep up with her in a verbal sparring contest again. Good 'ole Zefielians, all right. It made her miss Zelgadis. He at least kept her honest with probing jibes occasionally. Gourry just took all the crap she gave him with a smile. He meant well, of course, but there was always something missing. Sometimes, Lina liked resistance.

Not that she didn't appreciate Gourry. Far from it. There's something to be said for having your own pet swordsman/bodyguard who basically will let you turn him into a punching bag. Sometimes she even thought shewell, yeah, maybe she loved him for it. There was a scary word, though. Love. It had all sorts of things Lina Inverse didn't want to deal with. Relationships. Emotions. Sensitivity. No way. She knew she didn't want that. Yet, did she just not want that or did she not want him?  
  
"So, do you know of the gang that hangs out north of here?" Greven asked Lina, snapping her out of her thought process. The redhead nodded.

"Yeah, unless they moved," she said. "I blew a good deal of them up a few months ago, but they were far from wiped out. They were the Red Dragons or Black Gryphons, or some other stupid combination of a color and an animal. I really can't keep absolute track of all the bandits that I punish, after all."

"What makes you think they'll have a clue about Amelia?" Gourry asked.

"They probably have nothing to do with it," Lina admitted. "But it's all about the information, Gourry. It's like this: when people travel through a bandit gang's territory, the bandits know. If the bandits think they can win the fight, they'll pick it. If the trespassers look tough, then they sometimes lay off."

"I get it," Kruetz said. "So you want to find out if they've either noticed some tough guys wandering through their woods last night or if they've had any recent additions to the big bandit house in the sky."

"If these guys we're after can plow through Seyruun castle guards like they did, I don't expect a bunch of bandits to beat them in a fight," Lina said. "And if the kidnappers were traveling north, it's almost a given that they'd hit this forest, which I believe is the domain of the Red-Black Dragon-Gryphons, or whatever they were."

"So we'll up and out early tomorrow and-" Greven said, cutting himself off at the end and perking up. He took a whiff of the air. Lina narrowed her eyes.

"What?" Gourry asked.

"I smell it, too," she said.

"Smell what?" Gourry asked.

"Trouble," Greven and Lina said in unison.

"Can you really smell trouble?" Kreutz questioned. Greven nodded, his gaze slowly moving around the area, trying to discern just what it was that was bugging his senses. He couldn't see anything, but

"Kreutz, illusions!" he shouted, springing up and snatching his bow from the ground. Lina and Gourry were up in an instant, too, as Kreutz nodded curtly.

"Flow Break!" he shouted sending out a pulse of white magic. A distortion began around him and rippled outward. As the magic in the area was dispelled, eight figures in black were suddenly visible, surrounding the party. Cover blown, the figures attacked.

The fight only lasted a few seconds. Before the one closest to him knew what was happening, Gourry had already cut him down, moving quickly on to the second one in a catlike pounce. Opposite him, Kreutz's great war hammer arced through the air, effortless smashing the skull of a nearby attacker as a brilliant lance of flame flew from Lina's palm, incinerating another. 

Unable to get at his quiver, Greven hurled his bow through the air like a javelin, the razor tips he had attached on the top tearing into a throat. Turning around, he caught an incoming sword hand by its wrist and spun it around, locking it behind the offender's back. As he saw Gourry land on top of his next target, Greven reached behind his back and drew out a wicked looking knife, pressing it against his new captive's throat and holding him at bay. It wasn't until a second latter when the three men noticed that Lina was being held in a similar situation, looking pissed off to no end.

"Don't move or she gets it," her captor said. Gourry pulled his sword out of the newly felled body and brought it forward into a fighting stance.

"Lina!" he screamed, starting to move forward.

"Listen to him, Gourry," she said an uncharacteristic hint of defeat in her voice. 

"I say you let her go or I relieve your friend here of his ability to breath," Greven said menacingly, twisting his captive's wrist backwards for additional effect. The cloaked man squirmed in pain but did not call out.

"No more death," Lina's captor said, reaching with her free hand to remove her hood. To everyone's surprise, it was a woman. She had mid-length dark hair and Lina's heart immediately skipped a beat.

"You?!" Lina exclaimed. "I got snuck up on by _you_?!"

"I told you I was looking forward to meeting you in person, Lina Inverse," Rani said. 

"You know her?" Kreutz asked.

"I'll explain latter," Lina said. 

"Okay, babe, I don't know who you are, but I suggest you let my friend go, now." Greven shot.

"Oh, please. I hold your leader and you hold a minion," Rani said. "If I had actually had intentions of killing Lina, that wouldn't be a very good trade." With that, Rani released her grip on the sorceress, who quickly sprung back and began to rant.

"Oh, you're gonna wish you _had_ killed me!" Lina screamed, gathering energy.

"Lina!" Greven barked, letting his captive go as well. The black cloaked man ran over to stand by Rani. "Let her talk before we mess her up."

"Talk quick then, and get ready to fry," Lina said, cracking her knuckles. "And start with why you wanted us to go after Amelia! Did you just want to lure us out here?"

"Not entirely," Rani admitted, placing her hands on her hips. "But that was an important part of it. You see, we have Amelia, and you will continue to comply if you wish her life to be preserved."

"Bastards!" Gourry shouted, raising his blade.

"Easy, Mr. Gabriev," Rani taunted. "Any harm coming to me would certainly seal the doom of your Princess." Gourry looked at Lina for direction. The sorceress let out a discouraged sigh.

"Screw it, Gourry. She's right."

"How do we know she's telling the truth?" Kreutz asked. 

"Because she predicted this," Lina growled. "She told me in a dream that Amelia would be captured. The only way she could have known that was if she was involved in masterminding it"

"So what do you want with us?" Greven asked.

"Not you all," Rani corrected. "Just Lina here."

"Well, what could you possibly want with lil' 'ole me?" Lina asked sarcastically.

"You will be tested," Rani said straightforwardly. "And you will follow directions."

"What if I don't fell like it?" Lina demanded.

"Then we kill the hostage."

"Well, of all the dirty, low-down, rotten" Lina began, but quickly found Gourry's hand on her shoulder, calming her. 

"It's okay, Lina," Gourry said. He turned to Rani. "What do you want her to do?" he asked.

"Travel towards Atlas City," Rani said simply. "I'll bein contact with you to deliver further instructions, Lina."

"Fine," Lina said, eyes narrowed to slits. Rani let out an arrogant smirk.

"Well, I'm glad that was so painless for most of you all. To be honest, I was expecting you to kill all of the minions." She grinned. "At any rate, I'm late for an appointment. I'll be seeing you" she said. Then: "Raywing!" A bubble of air encased her and the remaining minion, lifting them up into the air and carrying them off into the distance. A feeling of hopelessness came over the group. The campfire flickered out in the wind from the Raywing and a lighting spell quickly came into being above Lina's palm, illuminating four very sullen faces.

"So what do we do?" Gourry asked.

"We don't have much of a choice," Lina admitted, shaking her head and clenching her fist. "Oh, man when we get Amelia back the things I'm gonna do that Rani girl"

"Change of direction, then, I suppose," Kreutz asked. 

"Something like that, Kreutz," Lina said. "Something like that."


	6. Chapter 5

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 5- Fireside Chats 

"So tell me again how you know this girl," Greven asked, folding his arms across his chest. The foursome was walking along the road, now to the east towards Atlas. They had slept wearily last night, deciding to double up on guard duty. Breaking camp the next day had been somber as well. Very few words were exchanged between the travelers and their travel day had been going near four hours before Greven decided to break the silence. 

They now moved parallel to the mountain range they had been approaching before. The landscape was beginning to open up before them, though the spiny peaks were bending off to the north as the group moved east. The coming of spring was quite clear on most of the country side, the rolling hills that stretched beyond them all beginning to come alive again with green. The beaten dirt path that they walked along was even showing signs of life, the edge of the grass beginning to encroach upon it. It was somewhat ironic that life was blooming all around them as they all felt the pressures of potential destruction.

"I don't know how she did it, but she was definitely showed up in my dreams two nights ago," Lina said. "I thought I had just made her up until I woke to find Amelia had _actually_ been kidnapped, just like Rani had warned in my dream. Needless to say, I think her actually existence seals the deal that she's real and Amelia's probably in trouble."

"How could she have gotten into your dreams, though?" Kreutz asked. Lina shrugged.

"It requires a good bit of magical power. I was involved in something similar when I was on Mipross Island and one of Gourry's ancestors found _his_ way into my dreams."

"One of my ancestors?" Gourry asked. Lina sighed, then got angry.

"Yes, you idiot!" Lina screamed. "Don't tell me you forgot about Roudy and everything that I told you about him!"

"I seem to recall something of that nature," Gourry admitted. "But I don't remember anything about you running around with one of my relatives."

"He had the Sword of Light, jellyfish brains," Lina said, his eyes going flat. "The same sword that _you_ carry around with you. Trust me on this one, Gourry. For once in your life can you _please_ just get a clue?"

"Can I, around here? There haven't been any stores for awhile..." Gourry mused. Lina nearly fell down, but Kreutz caught her arm at the last second.

"Never mind," Lina said, slapping herself in the head (Gourry said a silent thanks that it wasn't him). "The point is that it's possible to go wandering through peoples' dreams, its just magic that I don't know how to use." She turned to Kreutz and Greven. "Neither of _you_ to has any experience with Dreamwalking, do you?" Her friends managed a shrug.

"It's probably a derivative of chi of sorts," Greven said. "You know, like locking on to someone's astral signal and manipulating it to think that they're seeing you in their dreams."

"Chi?" Gourry asked. "What's chi?" Lina's eyes went wide.

"You mean you've never heard of it?!" she demanded, jumping up and grabbing him by the collar. "For gods' sake's, Gourry, this is almost a new low!"

Gourry put with his hand to his chin. "Well, I'd say that 'cause we're still on a hill, it's not really a new low," he said, missing the point, "But no, I don't know what it is." Lina released her dimwitted companion, glancing blankly at Greven. 

"You're the one who uses is, Greven," she said. "Why don't you take care of this one." Greven shrugged.

"It's pretty simple, actually," Greven explained to Gourry. "You know how spells from Black and White magic involve manipulating the powers from Mazoku and Dragons, right?" Gourry cocked his head sideways the way a dog does when it's confused.

"Maybe that's over his head," Lina said. 

"Hmm." Greven said. "Well, basically, chi is like using the energy that you have in yourself instead of borrowing from the energy from someplace else. It differs from shamanism in that instead of taking any type of astral energy and transferring it into a spell, you take your own astral energy and create an extension of your own power. Does that make any sense?"

"So it's kind of like the Sword of Light, right?" Gourry asked.

"No, you idiot!" Lina said. "It's _nothing_ like" she paused and gave her companion's statement some thought. She then also cocked her head sideways for a moment. "Oh, wow," she said finally. "Actually, it kind of is like the Sword of Light." She paused her rant and scratched her head, surprised by her companion's correct answer.

"The Sword of Light naturally draws out your own astral energy, amplifying it into a blade," Greven explained. "So yeah, that's actually a reasonably accurate comparison."

"Okay, I think I follow," Gourry said, nodding slowly. 

"It's not practiced as heavily as shamanism because the caster has to have a strong connection to their astral energies. It's kind of like black magic and white magic in that there's more than just practice to it. Some of it comes down to what you're naturally capable of. At any rate, though, if these guys have someone who can manipulate dreams, then he's good."

"Better than you, Greven?" Kreutz prodded with a slight smile.

"Yeah, bro," Greven agreed. "Probably better than me." Gourry nodded, attempting to recap what he just learned.

"So basically we're dealing with a bunch of really strong magic users that are good enough to sneak up on us and have also captured Amelia and want to test Lina for something that we don't know about?" Gourry summed up.

"Yup, Gourry," Lina agreed. "That sounds about right."

"Okay!" Gourry exclaimed, slamming the bottom of his fist into his opposing palm. "So, what you're saying is basically that we're in a lot of trouble!" 

Everyone fell down. Even Kreutz.

"Yeah, Gourry," Lina said, climbing up. "I think that's safe to say."

"She said she'd be in touch," Kreutz said. "Do you think she means she'll talk to you in your dreams again?" 

"That's what I'm willing to bet on," Lina said. "I'd imagine tonight, even. She doesn't seem like the type that beats around the bush too much. If she says we'll be in touch, I suspect I won't be waiting long."

"So we don't have too much choice besides traveling as far as we can go, setting up camp and hoping for the best," Greven concluded.

"We should probably double up on guard duty again, tonight," Lina said. "Just to be sure she's not going to show up and get 'in touch' with us in a more physical sense."

The group traveled on the rest of the day in somewhat lifted spirits. Despite the dangers still being there, talking seemed to help a great deal. Lina took this time to fully recap her own adventures over the last few years. While the story of how the brilliant and beautiful sorceress effortlessly toppled a piece of the dark lord Shabrinigdo and went on to valiantly fight off half of the Mazoku race as they tried to kill her obviously had a distinct Lina Inverse touch, they were entertaining if not at least partially true. To help make her point, Lina was always ready to strike a pose as she reached a key scene, enhancing the effect. 

Since they were no longer trying to beat out other rescue teams and Amelia's safety seemed to be guaranteed as long as they followed directions, they made camp much earlier than yesterday. They ate a good chunk of the food they had left and Lina was forced to supplement the meal with a few dozen fish that she went off to catch from a nearby stream. Kreutz treated Lina and Gourry to a rarity in their travels: fish that had been skinned and gutted before eating. After a few complaints about the guts being the best part, Lina was pleased to find that fish tasted a lot better when Kreutz made them as opposed to when Gourry made them. After a couple more travel tales, Greven and Lina went to sleep while Kreutz and Gourry took the first guard. The entire campsite became markedly more quiet whilst Lina slept.

.

Lina dreamed again that night, though this time she didn't find herself surrounded by the perpetual mist that had been haunting her the last few days. Instead, she found herself in a rather pleasant environment: one of the main streets in Seyruun that she had been on only two days ago. She was sitting at an outdoor table at a small café in the theatre district. Her cape and shoulder guards were off, placed aside with her gloves. She looked down at the table in front of her and saw her reflection in a dark cup of coffee staring back at her. She looked at it for a moment before turning her head up again, her heart jumping when she saw Rani sitting across from her. The black clad woman sat smugly, sipping from a white, porcelain cup. For a moment, Lina thought that she jumped along with her heart. Rani definitely wasn't there five seconds ago, was she?

"Hello, Lina," she said coolly. "How are you doing?"

"Better that I'm not getting fireballs thrown at me!" Lina shouted in disgust. After a moment of gaining her composure, she sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. Reaching forward, she took her cup in one hand and took a sip. Some dream spirits must have been busy while she wasn't paying attention as she found her coffee now had milk and sugar in it, just the way she liked it.

"I figured you'd be more receptive to instructions in this environment," Rani said, indicating the café with a wave of her free hand. 

"Well, it's an improvement over your old methods," Lina conceded.

"I said you wouldn't come to harm if you followed directions, Lina," Rani said. "Why did you feel the need to double up guard duty again?"

_Great, so she's somewhere where she can see us sleeping_, Lina thought.

"Just being safe," she covered. "Can't blame us, can you? You did sneak up on us pretty well last night, and Lina Inverse doesn't like being snuck up on twice by the same person. That, and I believe you just indicated that Amelia wouldn't come to harm if we followed directions."

"Your own safety was implicitly guaranteed," Rani said, drinking slowly from her cup.

"Whatever," Lina said with a shrug. "Let's get down to business, 'cause I don't have time to play around, what is this?"

"Oh, how cute," Rani said. "It rhymes." Lina scowled, eliciting a laugh from her opponent. Having her fill, Rani returned to her serious stare. 

"I'll be brief, then, since you're in such a rush," she said. "In short, I want you to steal something. A simple task for you, I'm sure, but this will be what we'll call the first round of you test."

"Steal something?" Lina asked. "What something?"

"There will be an auction going on in Atlas city by the time you get there," she said. "I want you to infiltrate the compound in which it's being auctioned and steal it."

"And it is"

"An artifact."

"I'm gonna need to know more than that if you want it," she said with a sarcastic smile.

"It will be the only thing on auction. You should have no problem finding it." Lina growled.

"Fine," she snorted. "But I want to know two things first." Rani nodded. "First," Lina continued, "why can't I just bid on it and get it that way? Second, what's the deal with this testing thing? I've decided after careful consideration that I can't really comply effectively with your requests unless I know what I'm being tested for."

"The answer to the first question is, of course, because it's a test. I'm not interested in if you can buy it, Lina. I'm interested in if you can steal it. The answer to your second question is"

"I swear to the gods that if you tell me it's a secret, I'm going to kill you," Lina said.

"A secret?" Rani asked, a bit confused. "Well, I suppose it's kind of a secret," she admitted. "But I'll just say that we need to see if you'rewhat we think you are."

"For what?" Lina asked, eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry," Rani said with a smirk, drinking the last of her coffee. "But that concludes this dream session. I will be in contact again when you complete your objective." 

"Oh, no you don't!" Lina yelled, dropping her cup and leaping across the table, trying to grab her. Before the cup in the floor, though, Rani was gone and Lina was lying on the floor, grabbing nothing but air. She was quickly reminded that not only was the sidewalk hard, but feeling pain in your dreams was an ironic reality.

"Ouch, that hurt," she said, rubbing her bruised head. "Good thing it won't leave a mark." Climbing wearily to her feet, she brushed herself off and grabbed the half empty cup off of the table and downed the remainder of the coffee in one gulp. She shook her head. 

"I don't like this at all," she said. "And I guess this means that normal dreaming for Lina Inverse is suspended until further notice." As if on cue, she found herself startled back into reality, Greven's hand on her shoulder, rousing her to keep watch. She couldn't help but yelp slightly, causing Greven to withdraw his hand.

"Woah, it's just me!" he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said woozily. 

"Rani again?"

"Uh-huh," she said. "It looks like we need to rob some rich guy in Atlas to get some artifact that's use we don't even know about."

"Good stuff," Greven said. "At least this'll be interesting." Lina laughed.

"One thing that you always realize when you hang around me is life is _always_ interesting. The gods seem to have some special affinity for causing me trouble." It was a nice night out, so the group had not pitched tents. Greven had awoken half an hour ago, relieving Kreutz and Gourry after the first watch. It was about four in the morning. 

"You know, Rani said she'd leave us alone," Lina said. "You can go back to sleep if you like. I don't think I'll be doing much sleeping anyway."

"Nah," Greven said, shrugging if off. "It's okay. I only need about five hours of sleep a night, anywayI think."

"How do you pull that off?" she asked.

"It's all in the chi control," he said. "When you have acute control over your astral form, you can create a deeper synchronization between it and your physical form, making it easier to regain energy, I guess. I'm not really sure, to be honest." He rose up and walked over to sit by the fire, picking his pipe up off of the ground there and putting it to his mouth. Lina walked up behind him and sat down to his left.

"So, it must be nice to not have to deal with this kind of stuff all the time," Lina said. "You know, the crap where you're always involved in something bigger than you?"

"I suppose," Greven said. "But at least you don't have to deal with it on your own, right?" he pointed out.

"That's true," Lina admitted. "I _have_ always had people around with me when the world seems like it's gonna end. I mean, most of my recent friends have all been made through life threatening situations. Zel, Amelia, Phil, and even Gourry."

"He's been with you since the beginning?" 

"No, not since the very beginning when I left Zefielia. It's beenwow, like two years," Lina said. She laughed. "He's been trouble since day one, but still"

"You're rather ambiguous about your feelings for him," Greven said. Lina flushed bright red.

"Wha-what?" she stuttered. "What do you mean?" Greven laughed.

"Whatever there is between you two that's going on or went onyou're very confused about it," he said. "And I don't even have to read your chi to know that. So what's the deal, Lina? You can tell your old buddy, can't you?"

"It's nothing!" she exclaimed unconvincingly. "There's nothing going on between Gourry and I. We're not a couple. We're not together. I am not interested!" Greven laughed again.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked with a grin. "I mean, it sounds like you're more confused about what you think than anyone else is, so how can you be sure of it?" Lina twiddled her thumbs.

"I dunno" she said. She sighed. He read her like a book. He always did. He probably always would. "I guess, well, I guess I kind of am confused," she admitted. "I was never good with that kind of stuff, you know?"

"Oh, I know," Greven said. "I have a memory, after all." Lina blushed again.

"It's easier to just not deal with it." Lina said. "And so what? I'm allowed to be confused. I lead a confusing life! That's the way things are. Why should dim-wit over there be any different?" Greven took a puff of the pipe and turned his head to the red head.

"He really is pretty stupid, isn't he?" Greven asked with a suppressed chuckled as he exhaled some smoke. Lina grinned.

"He really is," Lina said, breaking down and laughing out loud. Greven laughed as well. "He's chivalrous, though," Lina said. "And as annoying as it is, sometimes, I respect that much. He's a nice guy" She laughed again. "But yeah, he really is pretty dense."

"Hitting him is kind of a backwards way of flirting, though, isn't it?" Greven asked with a raised eyebrow. Lina flared up and quickly punched him in the kidney forcing him to drop his pipe. 

"Okay, okay," Greven said, holding up a hand in defense, picking up his pipe with the other. "No more." He rubbed his side. "You'll figure out just what you think in time, Lina," Greven said. "As confused as you may be, you always were one to trust your gut. I'll bet that much hasn't changed over the years." She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said. "No word of this conversation ever gets repeated," she added menacingly. 

"Of course," Greven agreed. "I wouldn't want to go causing _problems_, now would I?

"I _will_ kill you, Greven Tenser," she said with a pointed finger. "Don't think that's ever changed."

"Lina, if ever there was one person I'd never love more to have on my side but hate more to be against, it would be you."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Greven the Grey," she said, referring to him by the color designation the sorcerer's guild had given him back home. As soon as he showed signs of remembering what her color had been, though, she gave him a 'don't even think about it' glare. He followed her train of thought.

"Thanks, Lina the..uhhsorry you got nailed with a lame color," he said.

"It happens, I guess," Lina said with a grimace. "Can't let it get you down, right? Just as long as no one ever finds out about it."

"Your very embarrassing, very pink title is safe with me," Greven said. Little known Lina-fact: all sorcerers are given color designations from their magic guild, such as Rezo the Red. Lina never uses hers because she was titled Lina the Pink, a name which she detests to this day. Greven is unfortunate enough to still have scars from when he teased her about it the first time.

The two sat in silence at the fire for awhile. When sorcerers get bored, they sometimes amuse themselves with cheap tricks, performing basic shamanist spells to play around with nature. One of Lina's favorite was to play around with the fire, creating pieces of ice and controlling the speed at which they would melt. Greven's favorite amusement normally came from using a variant of Diem Wind called Diem Claw to create an updraft under women's skirts, blowing them upwards and revealing whatever they were wearing underneath, though Lina was not exactly a good target for this. Instead, the two engaged in a very common magic game called Controller, in which each player picked one of two spells that normally cancel each other out. Each tried to beat out the other by having his or her spell just barely cancel out their opponents, a task requiring an exact match of power being poured into the spell. Too much power and you overdo it. This was called a Bust. Not enough, and you might get yours canceled out instead. 

For example, Lina would create a small flare arrow in the air and Greven would counter by forming a small freeze arrow. They would push their spells together and alter the power levels being supplied. If you overdid the counter with too much, you lost, so if Greven put too much power in and Lina quickly cut back, he would have Busted. If he matched Lina's cutback, though, and canceled out her flare arrow, he would have won.

Lina was _notoriously_ good at this game, a surprising skill from someone who enjoyed overkill so much. The only way Greven could ever consistently beat her was by cheating and reading her chi to determine how much energy she intended to put into a spell.

"I win again!" she exclaimed again. "Ha! No one can beat the sorceress supreme, Lina Inverse!"

It was true. Lina had beaten him thirty four consecutive times and he was beginning to get discouraged. She always won. She always did. She probably always would.  
  
"I'm getting tired of this game," Greven admitted. "Can we play a game I can beat you at?"

"Oh, poor Greven's getting tired of getting whipped?" 

"Poor Greven has a good idea, actually," Greven said, dumping out the ashes in his pipe and putting it away. "Do you want to be seriously amused?"

"Okay," she said with a shrug. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Watch this, then," Greven said, rising and walking over to where Kreutz was sleeping. He sat cross-legged near the paladin's head, inviting Lina to come over as well.

"Okay, now be quiet and let the hilarity ensue." Greven placed his hands in front of him and beginning to concentrate. In the ancient art of chi, he extended his astral form towards Kreutz's, manipulating the raw magical waves and beginning to enact his plan.

He tickled him. 

Lina watched in amusement as Kreutz moved his hand out of his sleeping bag to scratch at an unseen itch on his face. The scratching became more intense as the itch moved up towards his head and into his hair. The intensity of the itch slowly increased as Greven smiled and Lina started to laugh. Kreutz soon had both hands out of his bag and was scratching at his scalp with great vigor. Greven lowered his right hand and twisted his wrist over, and suddenly the sleeping Kruetz was overcome by an unquenchable urge to scratch his crotch. First one hand went down, then the other until he was consumed in a full out fit. Finally leveling the coup de grace, Greven spread the energy to affect all of Kreutz's astral-physical connection, stimulating the sensory neurons over his entire body.

Lina laughed out loud as Kreutzs' hands ran all over his body, unable to make the itching go away. If you can remember how annoying that one mosquito bite can get, just imagine an entire body full of them and you may be able to understand what Kreutz was feeling.

It was right around this time Kreutz grabbed and scratched somewhere a bit too sensitive and was woken up with a startled: "Ow!" The large man sat up in his sleeping bag and looked around with confusion. Already back at the fire, Lina and Greven turned around, feigning surprise.

"You alright, man?" Greven asked, Lina still chuckling.

"Uhyeah," Kreutz said. "I guess. Bad dream, maybe."

"Go back to bed," Lina told him. "We've still got a couple more hours before we set out."

"Yeah," Kreutz agreed. "Right. I'lluh, see you all in the morning." Shaking his head, he cast a minor sleep spell on himself and was unconscious in no time. Once they were sure he was out, Lina and Greven broke out laughing again.

"And you say _I'm_ bad!" Lina exclaimed. "Yeesh! I may physically abuse my partner, but at least I don't torture him!"

"You found it amusing, none the less," Greven pointed out.

"Well, yeah, of course," she admitted. "When did we ever not find playing pranks amusing?"

"Ah, just like old times, Lina," Greven said, patting the redhead on the back. She looked up at him with a smile.

"Yeah, Greven," she said. "Just like old times. Hopefully we'll come out of this alive just like old times, too." Hours later, they sat and watched the sun rise before heading off to catch some fish for breakfast.  



	7. Chapter 6

Slayers _TIME_

Chapter 6- A New Threat? 

An interesting thing about story telling: whenever the scene changes to some dark tunnel in a mountain or a secret military complex hidden underground, you can expect one or two things. First, the characters in the scene will be completely new and often shrouded in an air of secrecy. Second, they will always refer to things in the most vaguely possible way, giving the audience something to think about but never really revealing the entire story. It will always seem as if the audience has just entered a conversation only seconds past the introduction, henceforth missing just what the mysterious characters are talking about. It just so happens that our story is not so different. In fact, somewhere in the tunnels of a secret military complex hidden underneath a mountain, two new characters garbed in black (therefore surrounded with an air of mystery) were discussing things in the most vaguely of possible ways.

The two figures paced across the hall towards the council room. The passage walls were as black as their robes, illuminated by torches on the walls. These walls arched upward two stories before culminating on a central line that marked the highpoint of the ceiling. The echoes of their feet hitting the floor echoed a great distance.

"We lost track of them in Seyruun," said one of the figures, a man of middle age with shaggy brown hair. "Our man has yet to report back to us. We suspect he may be dead."

"When was the last we heard of him?" the other said, an older man who was well on his way to being grey. 

"The first day of the tournament," the first man said. "He reported in that day, but never again."

"Definitely dead, then," the second said. "He was a reckless one. I had a bad feeling about that one to begin with. He should have known better than to cross Lina Inverse so blatantly."

"His credentials were good. Impeccable, actually. He should have been able to hold his own."

"Maybe she had help. Maybe they're on to her, too."

"Our spies have noted activity in their suspected strongholds. Movement of some or the larger artifacts, as well"

"And their leader?"

"No information, yet. She might be moving around, though. If she gets to them, we can assume almost positively that their path will change. Also with the Princess's capture, we can't be sure how Seyruun will react, either. They might be a bigger player than we expected."

"Any word from Zefielia?" 

"No, sir. We're still waiting for the messenger to return." The older man gave the situation a moment's thought before responding.

"When we relocate Inverse, send another agent. In fact, send a few. As many as you feel necessary, even." he finally said. "Tell then to be more careful than the last one. Then tell Trent that he should continue monitoring Siegehaven from his position. I'll tell the council we've been set back to the reconnaissance stage and that we'll be on track again when we find the girl."

"Right," the first man said, beginning to turn around but then halting. "Wait," he called. The older man paused and gazed back.

"Yes?"

"We think there may be some Mazoku intervention."

"How so?"

"In his last transmission, our man did indicate that a certain one of Zellas' minions was running around Seyruun."

"Damn" the older man said. He shook his head bitterly. "Never mind it. The Council doesn't need to worry itself with that. Just do what we decided on. If Zellas wants to get annoyingwell, we'll deal with that when we come to it." 

"Understood, sir," the other man said. "Good luck with the council, Hastivah."

"Thank you, Mai. I'll need it."

.

Another thing about story telling: after a mysterious cut scene, the focus normally shifts back to the main characters. Again, this story is no exception. To this extent, we find out heroes still traveling westward towards Atlas. Gourry made cheery conversation, relating a story about the dog he owned when he was little and how his parents made him get rid of it when it got sick. Gourry was, as Lina had put it, always good for uplifting conversation. The boy had a knack for ignoring things that were bad and distracting himself with silliness from his past. He got constantly sidetracked, but his heart was in the right place.

"Dad wanted to make me take it into the back yard and end its suffering on my own," Gourry said, finishing his story. "But I told him there was no way I was doing that. It was around then that I realized that were actually sorcerers who could use white magic roaming around, so I found one and got the dog healed. I guess dad was never one for relying on magic, but I liked my solution better."

It was around mid-morning. The group had been making solid progress all morning before Kreutz came to a realization as to their location. He paused mid stride, looking around and recognizing a familiar landmark. He quickly caught Greven's attention.

"Hey," he called to his blonde companion. "Do you know where we are?"

"On our way to Atlas, smart one," Greven replied sarcastically. At this time, Lina and Gourry also halted.

"I know that, Greven," Kreutz said. "But on this path, don't you realize where we are?"

"No, not really," Greven admitted. "I actually don't know if I've come down this road before."

"Then look over there," Kreutz said, pointing to the north. In the distance, there was an outcropping of stone with a rather distinct design. While this meant nothing to Lina our Gourry, Greven was his with a realization.

"Oh, wow," he remarked. "We're only about a day's journey from Pauling," he said. 

"What's Pauling?" Gourry asked.

"It's a town," Kreutz said.

"Kind of a resort town," Lina clarified. "It's a lot of rich people who don't need to be near a market because they don't need to work anymore. There are a lot of really nice houses there, if I'm not mistaken." Greven and Kreutz nodded in agreement, grinning at each other. 

"What's with you two?" Gourry asked.

"We have place there," Greven said casually. Lina's jaw dropped as she turned to look at her old friends.

"You have a house there?!" she demanded incredulously, stomping up to Greven, jumping up and bonking him over the head. "I thought you guys still lived in Zefielia! I think you're full of it!" she said, her hand still clenched in a fist. 

"No, honest!" Greven said, rubbing his head. Kreutz confirmed.

"It's true," he said. "You see, we don't carry a lot of money around with us, but we have investments in real estate all over the subcontinent. The values are always going up, so eventually when we stop traveling, we'll sell all the property we don't want to live on and make a hefty profit. This way, while we do travel, we have houses that we can go to in a few towns."

"How many towns?" Gourry asked

"Fifteen or twenty, isn't it, Greven?" Kreutz asked.

"How do you afford that?!" Lina demanded.

"With all the money that we make from selling our finds," Greven said. "And if you didn't eat so much, you'd be able to afford a few nice houses, too," he added with a smirk.

"You really think I eat that much?" Lina asked. A puzzled looked came over her face as she ran over the budget that eating actually ran her. She looked to Gourry for assistance, but he gave her a clueless shrug. After a little while, the numbers got too big for her to handle in her head and she started to scratch the back of her neck. "Well, uhhwow, I guess I do eat a lot!" she admitted.

"It's a little out of our way, but we should try and get there," Kreutz said. "We'll be able to stock up on food in the town and you can use our bathhouse."

"Your bathhouse?" Gourry asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah. We have one in the back yard," Greven said. Lina gazed at the two of them with a look of wonder.

"Wow, guys, that's actuallywell, pretty cool," Gourry said with a smile. "And that means" he looked to Lina with hopeful eyes. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked her. Lina got over her initial shock and her eyes lit up with happiness as well; she knew where his mind was.

"It means we're only half a day's journey from fresh food and clean beds!" Lina exclaimed.

"Oh, yes!" he agreed. Then, Lina began to frantically shake her head.

"Half a day's too long!" she said. "No way I can wait that long. My stomach needs fresh food now! Are you ready, Gourry?"

"Uh-huh!" he said, bouncing up and down.

"Then let's go!" she screamed. Both of them looked eastward and tore off in a trail of smoke, leaving Greven and Kreutz standing with befuddled looks on their faces.

"She always did have a lot of energy," Kreutz said.

"I guess we'll catch up with them eventually," Greven said.

"With them going at that pace?" Kreutz asked. "How do you figure?"

"Because, my friend, eventually they're going to realize that they don't know how to get there and they'll have to stop," Greven said with a wry grin.

Sure enough, Greven and Kreutz took a relatively leisurely pace catching up with their wayward companions.

.

Royalty has to meet with people all the time. Sometimes they enjoy it. More often then not, it bothers the hell out of them. Every now and then, even, someone shows up that demands meeting with the King or given Monarch is turned back at the gates for appearing too mysterious. It is this stranger that almost always has the most important business with the ruler and they will normally have to go through various antics to actually receive an audience.

In Seyruun, Prince Phil was busy meeting with such a stranger. It was someone who was interested in Amelia's reward, but didn't happen to hear about the Princess's capture until two days after the fact. What this fellow had to do to actually get his audience isn't important, save for the fact that it did not involve cross-dressing. No, he didn't do that unless Lina gave him no other choice.

"I know you're planning an expedition to the new world," the man told Phil. "Now that the monster's barrier is destroyed, I trust such an undertaking would be addressed most promptly by Seyruun out of all of the Kingdoms."

"Your information is correct," Phil responded. "We were in the middle of preparations before Amelia was kidnapped. When she is recovered and this situation is resolved, we intend to return to planning our expedition."

"Then I'll cut to the point. I came here today to offer my services in rescuing Amelia in exchange for passage on a ship to the new world."

"Your request seems reasonable," Phil told the grey cloaked stranger. "Though what was wrong with the reward that I set forth?" The man looked offended.

"My intentions aren't nearly so mercenary," the man responded. "Amelia is a friend of mine, after all. I simply want to be assured a place on one of your ships."

"I see no problem with that," Phil said. "And I must say, I'm happy to have someone of your skill involved in the search. The girl Lina Inverse is on the chase, too. Amelia would be proud to know she has friends like you all."

"So we have a deal then?" the man said, extending his hand. Phil took the offer with a giant hand of his own. 

"Of courseMr. Zelgadis." 

.

A few hours later, Greven and Kreutz found their wayward partners sitting with their backs half against each other, half against a tree, happiness completely wiped from their faces. Their path was met with a fork in the road, and while it took Gourry awhile to understand the concept behind the expression, Lina knew that if they wanted fresh food tonight, they'd have to stop and wait. As he approached, Greven shot a grin at Lina and started to open his mouth before she held up her hand to stop him.

"Don't," she said. "Just don't say anything." Greven gave a silent nod, knowing very well that Lina wasn't one to be teased while she was already pissed off.

They walked along the ridge of the forest, bringing them off of the main road and onto slightly less beaten trail. Lina's stomach was almost feeling rewarded, however, when the sun began to set and the foursome came over a final hilly ridge. The town was set in a valley that was circled by the forest on the east. Out of the woods flowed a good sized stream which weaved through the north of the town and established itself as the village's western border. Most of the houses were white with well maintained roofs and large windows. Pillars flanking front doors were not uncommon. All and all, it looked like a pretty damn nice place to live. The kind you'd want to retire to. The kind with lots of green grass and stuff. 

Kreutz wandered into the lead. He and Greven waved to assorted people as they passed through the main street. They were pretty well liked here. As wealthy as they turned out to be, the adventures always found time to help out their neighbors here with mowing their lawns or shoveling their snow. Good, old fashioned Zefielian boys. Kreutz's mom would have been proud of them.

As they moved down to the end of the main road, they came to a large wrought iron gate that blocked passage through a gap in the giant hedges that otherwise concealed a extravagant brick house. Kreutz waved his hand over the locking mechanism and uttered a few words, unsealing whatever wards the boys has put on the place and opening up the gates.

"This is where you live?" Lina asked incredulously.

"Sometimes," Kreutz said with a shrug.

"Lina, I think we've been in the wrong business all this time," Gourry said.

"Maybe we need to reevaluate our spending habits," Lina admitted with a hand to her chin. "I mean, these Demon's Blood Talismans are nice, but when I think about how much I sold to Xellos for them"

"Get rich quick," Greven said. "Hasn't that always been your motto, Lina?" 

"I guess just hording the money and treasures has its advantages, but I'll hand it too you boys, this is definitely pretty nice."

"Wait until you see the inside," Kreutz said with a smile. He led the group up the stone walkway to the large doors that were appropriately flanked with, yup, you guessed it, big white pillars. Whispering a few more magic words, the door unlocked and swung inward. Greven and Kreutz waltzed in, stretching their muscles.

The entry hall was impressive. Two stories high. Large windows stretching nearly to the ceiling. Collections of all sorts of trinkets that Lina's buddies had picked up from robbing bandits or raiding tombs that they didn't feel like selling (classic medieval decorations like suits of armor and sword-and-shield style coats of arms that no properly developed mansion should be without). On the right side of the hall, a wide, white spiral stairway led up to the second floor.

"Jeffery?" Greven called out. "Are you here?"

"Master Greven?" a voice called from the top of the white spiral staircase that dominated the entry hall. Soon, a man in a black tuxedo peered over the edge of the railing. Greven put his hands on his hips.

"Jeffery, what did I tell you about wearing that stupid get up?" Greven asked.

"Forgive me, Master Greven. I didn't know you and Master Kreutz were returning, but it is the standard wear of stereotypical butlers and servants everywhere. I'm just trying to play my part." Jeffery hurried down the stairs to meet them. The group exchanged some confused glances.

"Its okay, Jeffery," Kreutz finally said. "Why don't I introduce our guests? This is Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry. Lina's from Zefielia. She grew up with me and Greven. Gourry is her uhhtraveling companion. He's from Elmekia, I believe. Isn't that right, Gourry?"

"Yup," Gourry said. "It's a good land. The people there are always really nice and it's so easy to find good-" Lina cut him off, bounding up to Jeffery.

"It's so nice to be here!" she exclaimed. "Such a lovely home Greven and Kreutz have! Now is there any chance you can direct me to the nearest kitchen? We can have hors d'oeuvres now and then the welcome home banquet latter tonight and perhaps dessert before we attend the bathhouse and"   
  
"Lina, calm yourself," Kreutz said putting a hand on the red head's shoulder. "The food's not going anywhere. It'll take a little while to prepare, though. Why don't you and Gourry go wash off in the mean time?" Lina stopped bouncing and composed herself.

"Good idea, Kreutz," she said patting him on the back with a thawp. "You always were a thinker, unlike our blonde buddies here," she said, pointing to Gourry and Greven.

"I think I'll clean up, too," Greven said, giving Lina a well timed glare. "I was never much of a cook. I think I can leave that to Jeffery and Kreutz."

"That's fine, Master Greven," Jeffery said. "Master Kreutz can inform me of your journeys while we prepare dinner. Is there anything your guests would prefer?" Ah, food choices. This is what Lina lived for.

"Chicken!" Lina said. "And pork and beefand oh, what the hell! Cook us anything you've got. Dragon would be especially appreciated if you happen to have any!" she winced a moment in remembrance of the last time she ordered Dragon anywhere.

"And you, Mr. Gourry?" Jeffery said.

"Oh, I'll eat anything," Gourry said, laughing. "Just make sure there's enough so that Lina doesn't have to take my food, too."

"We'll make plenty," Kreutz said. "The freezer should be pretty well stocked, if I remember properly. I'm afraid we're fresh out of dragon, though."

"I guess it doesn't really matter," Lina said. "Just as long as there's a lot of it. Now, uhwhich way is the bathhouse?"

"I'll take you guys there," Greven said. "It's just right around back. There're dressing rooms there that you can leave your clothes in. And don't worry, Lina: there're separate baths for men and woman." Gourry let out a chuckle and everyone turned to see what he found so funny.

"What is it?" Kreutz asked.

"Oh, it's just that you couldn't tell if Lina was a guy or a girl as long as she had bathing trunks on, anyway!" Gourry said with a laugh.

"What!!?" Lina demanded, pummeling him quickly in the face. Gourry yelped in pain as he was sent flying into an antique suit of armor. Knocking it over with a clang, he quickly found himself buried in metal.

"I think he said that you're flat, Lina," Greven said, unable to resist the urge to strike. She started to wind up to hit him, too, but he held up a hand and flicked his wrist quickly around, sending out some chi and freezing her fist mid swing. "And if you want to eat, you probably don't want to hit me," he said, giving he what was becoming his trademark wink. Turning, he began to walk to the rear of the house. "Now, follow me," he said. He snapped his fingers and released his hold on Lina, her momentum suddenly flaring up again and sending her tripping to the floor. She jumped up again and Kreutz could have sworn he saw smoke rising from her head before she stomped off after Greven towards the bathhouse with Gourry in tow.

As they passed through the house, Lina noted that it was indeed quite lavish. Whenever the polished marble floors weren't visible, it was because they were covered in deep red carpets that she estimated were probably worth a pretty penny. She highly doubted that her friends actually had such good taste and was proved correct when Greven admitted that they had hired a designer.

The bathhouse was also impressive, taking up a sizable portion of the back yard. The baths were half inside, half outside, so the bather had some choices depending on the weather. The inside was separated into male and female baths. The outside was more of hot tub for social gatherings of both genders. The outside portion flowed seamlessly into the landscaping, proving that with the proper placement of some rocks and vegetation, anything can look natural. It was complete with a waterfall that trickled down from a ledge behind the bathhouse itself. 

The interior of the bathhouse was white and grey marble, looking just as expensive as the rest of the mansion. Lina bounded forward ahead of the boys, eager to jump into the water. Greven told her to veer right to end up in the right section. He and Gourry then entered the house, veering right and ending up in the men's dressing room. The door on the far wall slid open to reveal the indoor men's bath. Discarding his clothes, Greven pointed out where the towels were and then settled into the bath. Glad to get his armor off, Gourry was more than happy to jump into the bath as well.

"You thirsty?" Greven asked Gourry, wading over to a panel on the rear wall and sliding it open.

"Sure," Gourry said. Greven pulled out two glasses and a bottle of wine.

"Zefielian vintage," Greven said, pouring the wine into the glasses and handing one to Gourry. "It's good stuff. The grapes and wines of Zefielia are the greatest in the world." Gourry took a sip and smiled.

"It's very good," he said politely. "Do you always keep wine in here?"

"Sometimes I like to drink in the bath," Greven said. "I find it relaxing, sort of like the smoking."

"My grandma always told me that everything's fine in modernation," Gourry said, sharing some familial wisdom.  
  
"Do you mean moderation?" Greven asked.

"Yeah, sure," Gourry said with a smile, taking another sip. "And I never got into smoking, but I can still enjoy a good glass of wine."

"Did your family drink it back home?"

"Sometimes on special family occasions. This wine is very good, though. Better than what we drink back home, I think." Greven lifted his glass up as if to cheer, but Gourry responding by looking up, thinking that Greven was just pointing to the ceiling.

"Uhh so how long have you been away from home?" Greven asked, ignoring Gourry's slight lack of culture. Gourry gave it some thought.

"It doesn't seem like too long. It was maybe a year before I met Lina, so two and a half years or so?"

"Just out to seek your fortune?"

"Not really," Gourry admitted. "It was my sword, actually. My family was fighting over it. It was getting really bad and I wanted to make them stop. I figured the best way to solve the problem was to just take it and leave."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Nah, don't be. I'm happy on the road. I needed to get out of the house and see the world, anyway."  
  
"So that was it for the family occasions, huh?" Gourry nodded.

"And pretty much for the wine, too," Gourry said with a smile.

"And I guess you and Lina don't hit up the bars often?" Greven asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, no," Gourry said. "I don't like bars much, and Lina doesn't take very well to alcohol. She is pretty tiny, after all." Greven laughed.

"Yeah, and the last thing this world needs is someone like Lina on a drunken rage," Greven joked. Gourry laughed, he of all people knowing how true that was. An awkward silence set in and both took another sip of wine.

"So, you and Lina used to begood friends?" Gourry asked, making conversation.

"Yeah, we go back a ways," Greven said. "We used to get in trouble a lot together." Greven laughed out loud as he recalled some a few stories. "Like this one time, she wanted to make some extra money, so Kreutz and I helped her charge admission to a view of her sister in the bath. Oh, man, was Luna pissed. I don't think Lina's ever been the same with her sister, since."

"Is that why Lina's so afraid of her sister?" Gourry asked.

"Among other things," Greven said. "Let's just say that Lina probably deserves all the treatment that Luna gives her. She is quite the devilish one, after all."

"Oh, I know that better than anyone, I think," Gourry said. "She'll do just about anything to make some money."

"Yeah, that's Lina, all right," Greven agreed. He took a sip of his wine and smirked slightly; he decided he'd cause some trouble. "So what's the deal with you two?" he asked. "She denies it, but are you guys an item or something?"

"Nah," Gourry said simply. "I mean, well"

"Oh, come on," Greven goaded. "Guy to guy, you can tell me." Gourry considered the question for a moment.

"I guess Lina's a very special person," Gourry said. "And maybe sometimes she drives me nuts and isn't nice, butI do enjoy being with her a lot and she's important to me, even though I don't know if that means anything." He took a breath and thought about what he just said before he grinned with satisfaction. Greven pondered the answer for a second.

"So do you dig her?" Greven said.

"Dig?" Gourry asked.

"I mean like do you want to get on her?" he asked crudely.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Gourry protested, his skin turn a shade redder and it having nothing to do with the wine. "Hold on a minute. Now I don't remember saying anything like that!"

"Okay, okay," Greven said, backing off. "I didn't mean to put it so bluntly. I guess it's sort of nebulous, then?"

"Nebulous?"

"Like cloudy," Greven clarified.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess, then," Gourry said. As he said this, a familiar voice came from the opening that led to the outdoor (coed) pool.

"Now, what's this way?" came Lina's voice from around the bend. Shortly after, the petite sorceress rounded the corner, her loins concealed by the water but the rest of her rather open to observation. As she realized she had wandered into the boy's bath, Greven and Gourry just stared.

"Ah!!" she screamed, wrapping her left arm over what little she had of a chest. "Fireball!" she shouted, hurling a red ball of flame forward with her free hand. Gourry, unable to protect himself, dove under the water as Greven snapped to his feet and launched a freeze brid at the fireball to cancel it out. The two spells collided and dissipated with a poof. Greven then found himself the new object of observations, his legs being long enough to lift his waist above the water. Letting out a flustered chuckle, he covered his privates and quickly sank back into the water. 

"I'm, uhhsorry," Lina said, also sinking into the water. "Just a reflex, I guess. I didn't think this door led into the boy's bath."

"I think maybe it's time to eat," Greven said, his color returning to normal. "Do you want some wineerr, uhhnever mind," Greven said, realizing that it was probably best for his health to get out of this situation as quickly as possible. He gathered up the glasses and wine and replaced them behind the panel. "Lina, we'll meet you outside."

"Right," Lina said, making her way to the outdoor pool and back to the girls' bath. After she was clearly out of sight, Greven gave Gourry a look with a raised eyebrow.

"She really is pretty flat, isn't she?" he asked.

"I don't make stuff like that up," Gourry said, happy to have someone agree with him.

"But, wow," Greven said. "Like, she literally hasn't grown at all in three years."

"Just don't let her hear you say that," Gourry warned. "It might be the end of your life."

They began to climb out of the bath, looking for towels when Greven noticed that there weren't any where he usually kept them. A might concerned, he glanced over to Gourry.

"Did you move the towels when we got in?" he asked. Gourry gave a shrug. A call from the girl's locker room echoed through the halls.

"Where the hell did my clothes go?!"  



End file.
